Digimon Frontier: The Adventures of Jade and Alex
by FullmetalDude1
Summary: Jade & Alex seem like ordinary people, apart from a few things: There's a mystery surrounding their parents, Jade's eyes are always changing colors & instead of a D-Tector like the others, Alex has a D-3. What happens when they go to the Digital World with the Frontier Gang? Will they find what they're looking for? Warning: OOC & more in depth looks at the characters/filler.
1. All Aboard!

**Digimon Frontier-Episode 1: All Aboard!**

It was a nice and sunny day in Shibuya, Japan today. Kids were laughing, birds were chirping and everyone was happy.

Well, everyone except two young children.

One was a girl with chocolate-brown eyes, strait chocolate-brown hair with orange streaks that reached her waist that came from an orange patch at the top of her head and slightly tanned skin. She had a red open blazer with white and crimson linings, a black shirt that covered a surprisingly well-developed chest, slightly tanned jeans and red and crimson boats. She was 11-years-old and born in June.

And she was feeling very anxious.

The other was a boy with dirty-blonde hair that was strait at the sides of his face and sort of spiked at the back, his eyes were a caramel colour and he had light skin. He was wearing a yellow scarf, sleeveless closed white jacket with blue and light blue linings, a yellow turtle-neck, blue jeans and blue boats. He was 10-years-old and born in December.

He was depressed.

The two were sister and brother, the girl being older.

They were in Shibuya Park, eating their meal. The park was beautiful with the leaves as green as they could be. The wind as soft as a pillow. And the grass was as smooth as a clean china plate, but still held the gentleness of a mother's touch.

The two didn't have a lot to eat, only a ham sandwich each and a beaker of water. But they didn't complain. They were sitting on a brick wall that separated the side walk from the park.

The girl was watching a little boy in the park, who was playing on the monkey bars.

He had short light-brown spiked hair, chocolate eyes and light skin. He was wearing an orange jumper with a yellow face on it, ankle-length grey trousers, light-green ankle-socks and dark-green trainers.

A woman was watching him, too.

She had shoulder-length light-brown hair, light skin and hazel eyes. She was wearing a teal jumper, dark-blue jeans, black socks and simple black shoes.

The girl could tell she was the boy's mother. They had the same hair and skin after all along with a motherly smile to match.

After swinging for a bit more, the boy landed on his feet, took his mother's hand and dragged her out of the park, towards the road. The boy was laughing and skipping merrily, while the woman looked down with a smile. A smile that a mother would always give their child when they were having fun or were proud of them.

The female brunette chuckled and looked to the road that the boy and his mother were going to cross.

She gasped.

There was a speeding van heading straight for them. The drive wasn't paying attention to the side walk and couldn't see the boy and his mother.

The girl jumped to her feet and ran.

She couldn't let it happen. She couldn't let somebody lose someone they cared about. And she wouldn't. Not now. Not ever!

* * *

The little boy was waving to his friends, while he was half way across the road.

"SHINYA!" The woman screamed after she noticed the van.

"Huh?" The little boy, Shinya, asked and turned to see the van heading straight for him.

He screamed.

The woman yelled his name, helplessly.

It was too late to dodge.

Then, out of nowhere, a brunette lunged at Shinya and got them out of the way, just in time. The girl held him protectively in her arms as they rolled, until her back hit the hard concrete side walk, hard.

The viewers of the incident were speechless.

Some wanted to make sure that they were alright. A few wanted to yell at the girl for her 'stupidity'. Some of them recognised her and were eager to meet her. The rest didn't know what to think.

"SHINYA!" The woman yelled as the female brunette let go of the boy.

"MOMMA! Did you see that? She saved me!" Shinya yelled to his mother once he reached her.

"I sure did!" The woman sighed and hugged her son for dear life.

The girl smiled sadly at the happy reunion.

She remembered doing such things with her mother and father when she was Shinya's age and lived in Domino City. It brought tears to her eyes at the memories.

The brunette knew she couldn't stay, though.

She had her brother to look after. And a lot of other problems. And she just didn't have the time to sign autographs or be yelled at for her 'stupidity'.

The girl got up and began to walk away.

"Wait."

She turned around to see that the little boy and his mother had spoken.

"I'm Yuriko and this is my son, Shinya." The woman, Yuriko, said with a kind smile.

"Nice to meet you." The girl said and shook hands with them both.

"Thank you for saving my son." Yuriko said with a bow, obviously very grateful.

"Yeah thanks!" Shinya chirped and bowed as well.

"No problem. Now I gotta go. See ya!" The brunette said, while smiling.

Then, she ran back over to her brother as he hugged her and cried on her shoulder, she patted his back and murmured soothing words too calm him.

* * *

A couple hours later, the two siblings were found walking down a street searching for shelter.

Neither had any idea where they were now, or where they'd been. They were lost.

Then the girl's phone started playing "Get Your Game On!" by Matthew Drdek, indicating that it was ringing.

She pulled it out of her blazer pocket and opened it.

"**One New Message**"

Was what it said. The brunette opened the message and it was one of the strangest things she'd ever seen. And she'd seen a lot of strange things in her time.

"**Do you want to start?**"

Underneath, there was a flashing "**YES**" and under that a normal "**NO**".

"Hey bro! Check this out!" The girl called.

The boy stopped and turned to his sister to see why she stopped. She showed him her phone and he read the message.

"What do you think it means?" The boy asked.

The girl shrugged.

"I don't know, bro. But 'YES' is calling my name!" She cheered and pressed "**YES**".

"**My dear children. I need your help**_._" A feminine voice said.

This got both of the siblings' attention automatically.

"What is it? What's wrong?" The girl asked, worriedly.

"**Your destinies are calling.**" The woman said.

Then some instructions appeared.

"**Take the 5:45 Shibuya bound train from Jiyuugaoka Station.**"

"I would, if I knew where it was." The girl growled and mentally cursed.

Then they heard a front door being slammed shut by a powerful force. They both looked to their left to see a guy, the girl's age, running out of a house.

The guy had tanned skin, dark-brown shoulder-length hair and hazel eyes. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt with a black "D"-like symbol on his chest, under a red short-sleeved jacket with a pocket on each side of the jacket's chest, olive gloves, white socks, orange and red sneakers with white soles and an olive cap, over which he had square-lensed goggles. Also, the cap left a tuft of his hair out in the front.

The boy was making a mad dash for the street, so the siblings decided to follow him.

After running for a little while, the boys started panting, while the girl didn't.

She was used to running, in-fact, she could run even faster than this. This was nothing but child's play to her.

Her mother hadn't trained her to be the best girl on the track team in Domino Elementary for just the fun of it.

Then Goggle-Head's phone went off and he looked at it.

"5:40?!" He gasped and continued running.

They were passing a kid and his dad, playing with a football. The kid was laughing the whole time and didn't notice the mini gang.

"Here it comes!" The kid cheered and kicked the ball to his dad.

Then the man's phone started ringing.

"Hello?" The man asked and answered his cell phone.

"Huh?" He asked, while a strange noise entered his ear thought his phone.

He completely forgot about the game he was playing with his son.

This made the girl frown.

She hated it when parents forgot about their children, just because of a phone call from work or something.

Especially when the kid was only 8-years-old or so.

It had happened to an old family friend and he had lost all confidence in himself, until he met her father. When they became friends, he finally had the confidence to stand up to bullies and his own brother, who was supposed to help him.

"Dad the ball!" The kid called.

"Sorry! But the phone! That noise!" The man said, sounding confused and offended.

"That's no excuse!" The brunette girl yelled.

She knew it wasn't her business, but she couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

There was no way in Hell she was going to let another person go through that kind of life alone and in tears, even if it wasn't her business.

"I'll get it!" Goggle-Head yelled and ran a bit faster.

"It's these days." He complained under his breathe, but the girl heard him…

With compliments from her father's abilities.

Goggle-Head was able to catch up to the ball and stop it in the middle of the cross road…

Where a truck was heading straight for him!

He turned around and kicked the ball back up the road, then turned his head. He finally noticed the truck and the driver finally noticed him.

The truck skidded to the side as the driver tried to NOT run over the boy.

"Oh perfect!" The boy cried sarcastically.

"This… Is my destiny?" He asked himself.

"Not if I can help it!" The brunette girl muttered and ran straight for Goggle-Head.

She was able to push him out of the way and the two bounced on the concrete road for a bit. The girl used herself as a pillow to soften Goggle-Head's landing and ended up being squashed.

"You okay?!" The truck driver yelled when he stopped his truck to check on the two.

"SISSY!" The blonde yelled and ran straight over to her.

He knelt beside them.

"Are you okay, sissy?" He asked, like a small child.

The brunette girl chuckled. He always called her that when they were kids.

Like Uncle, like Nephew.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Goggle-Head and the girl said in union.

"Oh no." Goggle-Head complained as he looked at his phone and got off the girl.

"Hey bubby! What time is it?" Goggle-Head asked the driver.

"What?.. Er… Couple before 5:45." The driver said and looked at his watch.

All three gasped, got up and followed Goggle-Head. The boys panting again. Goggle-Head groaned as they ran.

"Oh, why does this always happen to me?!" Goggle-Head complained.

"Quite you're complaining and keep your running, Goggle-Head!" The girl yelled at him as they continued.

* * *

After 3 minutes of none-stop sprinting, they could see the train station.

They were surrounded by people, so they kept apologizing if they bumped into people and calling out "Excuse me" when they brushed past people. They got out of the crowd and were in-front of the station now.

Goggle-Head looked at the clock and gasped.

"ONE MINUTE!? Oh great!" He yelled sarcastically.

All 3 ran straight for the ticket both and dug into their pockets. But they were all empty.

"I knew I should have asked for more allowance!" Goggle-Head complained and rammed his head on the booth.

Then the machine went crazy and 3 red tickets popped out.

"Huh? Tickets? Maybe this is destiny." Goggle-Head said as they each took a ticket.

They ran straight for the gate, scanned their tickets and went straight for the train.

"Wait! MY DESTINY!" Goggle-Head shouted and they made it just in time.

"I can't… Believe… We made it." Goggle-Head panted and sat down with the blonde boy, while the girl just leaned against the nearest 'wall' on the train.

"Hey… Why aren't… You… Tired?" Goggle-Head asked.

"Because I'm not. That's all." The girl explained to him, shrugging.

"H… How?" He asked.

"I'm used to it. I can even go faster than that. I mean, my Mom was on a track team back in the day and my Dad was a bit of a body-builder, so I'd get a bit of a work out everyday at my own home. Now stop asking questions. You need to catch your breath, Goggle-Head. You too, bro." She told them, sternly.

Goggle-Head had a questionable look on his face.

He looked at the blonde boy next to him then pointed from the female brunette to the blonde boy and the blonde nodded.

Goggle-Head had an "Oh" face on and continued his panting.

Then everyone's phones went off. Again. Goggle-Head looked around then pulled on the girl's arm. She looked down on him.

"What?" She asked, board once again.

"You know that guy?" He asked and pointed in front of them.

She looked and was a bit surprised.

In-front of them was a boy, her age, with long blue-raven that could be mistaken for black hair, which was in a ponytail, covered by a blue and dark-yellow camouflage bandana. He was also wearing a yellow shirt, under a blue long-sleeved jacket with yellow stripes running down the arms, grey trousers that ended at his ankles, long blue socks and white sneakers with blue stripes.

Then, he looked their way with sapphire blue eyes.

The girl could swear that his eyes were looking directly at her.

She thought he was someone she used to know. A dear friend of her's.

Her heart got stuck in her throat as she tried to convince herself it was him.

She gave him a hard look, then turned to Goggle-Head. Shaking her head no and silently wishing with all her heart that it was a lie.

She truly missed him. She missed all of them. A lot.

"Oh. I was just wondering if you knew him, so we could find out if he got that message, too." Goggle-Head explained, sinking back in his seat slightly.

"I think it's pretty safe to say that all of Shibuya got it." The blonde boy said and the other two nodded in agreement.

Then Goggle-Head looked at his phone and got a panicked look on his face.

"What's it say?" The blonde boy asked, curiously.

Goggle-Head showed him the phone and they read the message out loud.

"**Transfer to the 6:00 subway from Shibuya station**"

Goggle-Head looked around in a panic, while the siblings kept their cool and looked for a watch or a clock.

Goggle-Head found a digital wrist-watch that read "17:54".

He grabbed his head and threw it back, dramatically.

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! COME ON! GIVE ME A BRAKE I'M DOING THE BEST I CAN!" He cried, making everyone stare at him.

The blonde boy was covering his ears, like a frightened child.

"Excuse me Goggle-Head, but please don't do that." The girl anime-style sweat-dropped.

"Why?" Goggle-Head asked, curiously.

"Because, when my brother hears loud noises, he can get really upset and anyone who upsets him, gets a beating from me." She said and glared at him.

But he couldn't take the hint and asked a very, VERY stupid question. Or at least, word it wrongly.

"Why? Is there something wrong with him?"

Then, out of nowhere, the girl's eyes changed to a gold colour of pure rage, she grabbed him around his neck and rammed him against the wall.

She wasn't choking him, she just did it because she wanted to shut him up and was angry.

"**THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH MY BROTHER! HE'S JUST DIFFERENT! AND IF YOU SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN YOU'LL WISH I KILLED YOU!**" She threatened, glaring deadly daggers at the boy and meaning every word she said.

Then let him go, made a small "Humph!" and turned away from him.

Everyone was staring at her.

"**WHAT?!**" She screamed and everyone instantly turned away, afraid of the beast-like eyes.

"**That's what I thought.**" The brunette beast said calmly, went back to leaning and closed her eyes.

"What's with her?" Goggle-Head asked, rubbing his neck.

"Sorry. My sis is always like this whenever someone says there's something wrong with me. I guess she's over-protective. But I'm just as bad when someone hurts her." The blonde boy apologized, warning the brunette boy with his last statement.

"Can I ask why you're different?" Goggle-Head asked as he rubbed his neck.

Even though she hadn't attempted to chock him, her nails had left a bit of a mark. It was almost as if they had become longer, just by getting angry.

"Well, it's complicated." The blonde boy said and looked to his sister.

She opened her eyes, which were brown again and stared at the ceiling.

"To make a long story short, we have a thing called Autism, so we think and act differently to other people. And no, it's not a sickness or anything like that. Just a thing that separates ourselves from others. And we were born with it. Only thing is, my brother had ADHD in addition to that, which makes it hard to focus and I have Dyslexia, which makes learning to read hard for me." The girl explained to him without going into detail.

Then she looked at him, shame on her face and in her eyes.

"And I'm sorry for attacking you, Goggle-Head. It's just, after the things we went through, I've had… Anger issues we'll say." The female brunette said, truly feeling sorry for her actions and carefully choosing her last words.

"No problem. Just try not to do it again, deal?" Google-Head asked, smiling reassuringly.

"Deal." The female brunette agreed and smiled.

After a short while, they made it to the station. Goggle-Head got up off the floor to wait by the door, with the siblings right behind him.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on!" Goggle-Head repeated, impatiently.

Finally, the train stopped and the doors were opened. All 3 walked out, side-by-side.

"Now what?" Goggle-Head asked, looking towards the ceiling.

Then the girl got a new message.

She took her brother's hand and dragged him away from Goggle-Head and to an elevator.

"Sis what are we doing in an elevator? And what about Goggle-Head?" The boy asked, slightly confused.

"I got a new message that told us to go to an elevator and head for the bottom floor." The girl said.

She was about to push the button, when Bandana-Boy walked in, surprising the girl greatly.

"Hey." The girl greeted while her brother waved.

Bandana-Boy just nodded and pressed the down button.

Then, as the doors were almost closed, Goggle-Head came crashing into the elevator.

The blonde boy was about to laugh his butt off, but Bandana-Boy and the girl were unimpressed. Goggle-Head groaned and rubbed his face with his gloved hand.

Then he moved his hand off his face, too see the three pairs of eyes looking at him.

"Hey, did you get that message too?" Goggle-Head asked Bandana-Boy, pleasantly.

Bandana-Boy just turned from him.

"_Well that was a stupid question._" The girl mentally sighed and anime-style sweat-dropped.

She was never a fan of stupidity.

Even though she wasn't the sharpest knife in the kitchen either. But she could accept it from her father, since she loved him too much to get peeved with him and she knew he only did it to make her smile.

Her heart aced at the memory of the only man she'd loved before, since she didn't care for someone that passionately, other than her mother, brother and friends, who she considered were children.

"Err… You could answer me at least." Goggle-Head said, irritation in his voice.

Then the elevator started to speed up, past the 'B2' floor and continued to go faster and faster. Bandana-Boy and the girl knew something was going to happen, while the blonde boy was panicking and Goggle-Head was back to complaining. Again.

"Ohhhhh! My destiny is really starting to bite!" Goggle-Head complained.

"Sis! What's happening?!" The 10-year-old asked in a panic.

"Don't worry, bro. Just hang on to me." The brunette girl said, reassuringly.

She wrapped one of her arms around him, protectively and used the other to hold on to the railings. In return, he hugged her and braced for impact. Bandana-Boy grabbed onto the railings too, while Goggle-Head just stud up and looked around for something to grab.

But it was too late.

They landed with a heavy crash. The girl's knees got weak for a second, but she was able to catch herself before she and brother hit the floor, hard. Goggle-Head landed on his head. The blonde boy would've fallen if it wasn't for his sister and Bandana-Boy was totally fine.

"Man! I really gotta stop landing on my head." Goggle-Head complained as he rubbed his hat.

Then the doors opened and they all looked out, with questionable looks on their faces.

In-front of them was an underground station, filled with different coloured trains that each went into different tunnels.

But the girl's gut was telling her, that it wasn't that simple.

There was something going on and it was because of what was happening on the other side of those tunnels.

"Oh… So weird." Goggle-Head commented in awe.

The girl anime-style sweat-dropped.

"Oh, so it's normal for you to be attacked by a girl on a train and crash in an elevator!" She chirped, sarcastically.

"My sis' got a point." Her brother shrugged.

Then, the phones made a strange noise and a symbol appeared on the screen.

No one recognized it.

"**It's up to you now. Which one will you choose?**" The voice from before asked.

Goggle-Head looked around while the girl grabbed her brother's hand and dragged him towards the silver train.

Then, she saw a kid was being picked on near the crimson train and instinctively, she ran over to help him.

* * *

"Ca-can't we just talk about this?" The little boy stammered.

He had short dark-brown spiked hair, pale emerald eyes and light skin. He was wearing a white T-shirt, a huge orange hat, yellowish-green cargo pans and white and green sneakers.

"Fat chance, _baby_." A boy with short spiked light-brown hair said, cruelly.

He was wearing a greenish-brown short-sleeved T-shirt, dark-red cargo pans and trainers that matched his shirt.

"Yeah! _Baby_! HAHAHA!" Another boy laughed.

He had short black spiked hair, glasses, a purple short-sleeved T-shirt, black cargo pants and trainers that matched his pants.

He and his partner were having a lot of fun with this loser. It was so hilarious watching this weak baby squirm.

"HEY!"

"Huh?" All three said in union.

They looked in the direction that the voice came from and saw a girl standing near by, with an angry and hateful look in her brown eyes.

"Leave this kid alone now. Or else!" She threatened.

Her brother wasn't hiding behind her. He didn't like to see fighting, so he got on the train like his sister asked him too.

"Yeah? What are you gonna do?" The brown-haired bully asked, tauntingly.

"This!" She exclaimed and grabbed the boy's shirt neck.

She lifted him off the ground, then threw him next to his partner, making them crash and hit the flour.

They looked scared, now.

"Now, GET LOST! Or I'll whip your hides!" She threatened, glaring daggered at them.

They got up and ran away, screaming "MOMMY!" until they were out of sight.

The female brunette turned and smiled at the boy, she crouched down until she was eye-level with him.

"Hey there, little guy. Sorry if I scared ya. Why don't we go on that train together?" She offered him.

He nodded his head slowly, saying "Yes".

She held her hand out and he took it. They walked into the train.

The clock struck 6:00.

The door shut behind them.

"_There's no turning back now._" She thought.

"Sissy!"

"Huh?" They both turned to their right to see her brother and two other kids there.

One of them was a 12-year-old, over-weight boy with spiky brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing an orange shirt, under a blue jump-suit with yellow pockets, white socks and blue and yellow sneakers. He was chewing on some chocolate, ignoring the siblings and 8-year-old.

The other was an 11-year-old girl with long blonde hair, that wasn't as dark and messy as the other blonde's, green eyes and pail skin. She was wearing a lavender cap with two points that resembled a cat's ears. She also was wearing white and light-purple shoes, long purple stockings, a blue and white striped short-sleeved T-shirt, a lavender coloured open sleeveless jacket with a white vertical stripe on each of the sides and a light-purple skirt with the same white lines on it.

The female brunette thought they were old friends, for a second.

Was her past coming back to haunt her, or was she just really, really tired?

Suddenly, Goggle-Head came thought the door.

"Um… You here… cause of the 'phone' thing?" He asked.

Everyone, but the female brunette, nodded.

"Well that is a bit obvious, Goggle-Head." She said, with a teasing smile on her face.

"With him here, there's 6 of us. I wonder if that means something special." The blonde girl said, ignoring the other girl's comment.

"Something special? Like what? Why'd you guys get on this train?" Goggle-Head asked them as he walked towards them.

The blonde girl hummed in thought, while Goggle-Head walked over to Chocolate-Boy.

"I mean was it… The message?" Goggle-Head asked, turning his body so it was facing Chocolate-Boy.

"Hey kid, this is the closest train to the elevator, okay? Now look, just leave me alone, would ya?" Chocolate-Boy replied, rudely.

Goggle-Head flinched then sank back in sadness, like a little kid that was denied their favourite toy in a shop.

"Gee sorry." Goggle-Head said like a child.

"I'm just nerves." Chocolate-Boy apologized.

"But there must be a reason why you picked this particular train." Goggle-Head said and turned to the green-eyed blonde.

She just giggled.

"I'm like him. It was closest to the elevator." She said with a smile.

Chocolate-Boy grinned and twitched his eye-brows at Goggle-Head.

"Hey. Watch this." Chocolate-Boy whispered to Goggle-Head.

Chocolate-Boy looked over at the green-eyed blonde and grinned.

"Hey honey, you want some chocolate?" He asked her.

"Move!" He whispered to Goggle-Head, as he stood up.

"No." She declined politely.

"So, my name's JP. What's yours?" Chocolate-Boy, JP, asked while pointing at himself with a flirty smile.

The female brunette pretended to be sick because of JP's flirting.

Flirts were usually fan-boys/girls and those made her sick.

She had to deal with fan-boys/girls a lot, since her parents had a lot of fans.

Seriously!

One time, a guy who had been obsessed with her mother came knocking and said some weird junk about saving her mother from her father, but no one liked him. So when he actually tried to kidnap her to get to her mother, she kicked the guy where it hurts the most and her father called the police.

Yeah, like Hell that had been fun.

The blonde girl didn't seem to mind and gave him a sweet smile.

"I'm Zoe. It's nice to meet you." The green-eyed blonde, Zoe, said with her polite smile.

"And I'm-I'm Takuya. Hi there." Goggle-Head, Takuya, stammered.

It was obvious that he liked Zoe.

The female brunette was just happy he wasn't flirting.

But she couldn't help but notice that had turned out just like her own parent's first meeting. Sorta anyway.

Then, Takuya turned to the siblings and kid.

"How about you?" Takuya asked them, slightly cold.

The brunette girl smiled and gently slapped her forehead.

"How stupid of me to forget to introduce myself. I'm Jade. This is my little brother, Alex." The brunette girl, Jade, said with a giggle.

"Hey there!" The blonde boy, Alex, said with a smile and wave.

"And this little guys is…um." Jade looked at the little boy she saved from those bullies.

"I'm Tommy." The little boy, Tommy, chirped obviously happier than he was a couple of minutes ago, to Jade at least.

Suddenly, the train made a horrible noise and the lights went out on the train. The train hit a bump that sent everyone to the floor. Jade being accidentally squished by Tommy.

Then something really weird happened.

The image of a white bear passed over Tommy.

A lavender butterfly woman passed over Zoe.

A blue beetle went over JP.

A red salamander/dinosaur passed Takuya.

A yellow fox **next** to Alex.

And a half-demon/half-human over Jade.

She thought she recognised it for a second.

Then a light appeared at Jade's hand, she lifted it up to see the light was coming from her phone.

It created a shot of light that went over to Alex's hand.

Jade's phone dissolved into a sickly-pink device with black grips and green and orange buttons.

Alex had a device similar to a cell-phone that was white with grips and buttons.

"_What the heck is going on?_" Jade thought.

"**Welcome to the Digital World, Jade Judai Yuki/Alex Asuka Yuki. This is your D-tector/D-3.**" The woman's voice said to the siblings.

"The Digital World?" Jade asked, confused.

She'd never heard of it before, yet it sounded so familiar.

Too familiar for her liking.

"Yuki?" Alex asked, fearful.

No one knew that used to be their surname. Everyone thought it was "Rosewood" ever since they were adopted by **him**. Their mother's greatest fan-boy.

Then the train honked again and suddenly everyone could see again. Because sun-light was reaching thought the windows.

"Did you guys get that message?" Takuya asked as he stared at his black D-tector with red grips and green buttons.

Tommy was staring at his cerulean D-tector with green grips and orange buttons.

Zoe was staring at her purple D-tector with pink grips and light-green buttons.

JP was looking at his blue D-tector with yellow grips and grey buttons.

Alex was staring at his D-3.

And finally, Jade was looking at her D-tector.

"_I'm guessing, yes._" Takuya thought when no one answered him.

Then, the train honked so loud, that it caused everyone to cover their ears and yell "OW!"

"You could hear that on Mars!" Takuya yelled and uncovered his ears.

"Man!" He commented.

"You okay bro?" Jade asked Alex, as she saw tears welling in his closed eyes.

"Y-y-y-yeah." Alex stammered.

He hated loud noises. They hurt. A lot.

"Oh bro." Jade said, sadly.

She hated seeing her brother upset like this. It could break anyone's heart.

"Are those ghosts?" Zoe asked, looking out the window.

Outside were some creatures that, in Jade's opinion, looked like white jellyfish without the tentacles and had black eyes and a mouth.

"They look like it." Tommy said, fearfully.

"Or marshmallows. They go great with chocolate!" J.P commented, hungrily.

"They look cute, sis." Alex commented as his tears disappeared.

The siblings got up off the floor and walked over to where the rest of the group were.

"According to this D-tector, they're called Poyomon. Fresh level, Slime/Jellyfish type and their attack is called Bubble Blow. But don't let it fool you. The bubbles are made of acid." Jade warned, as she read the screen of her device.

"Is it deadly?" Tommy asked, looking at the girl who was now sitting beside him.

"No. It'll just leave a small burn, but that's about it." Jade confirmed, smiling reassuringly.

One of the Poyomon started making faces at Zoe and she screamed, scaring the others away.

"Probably ghosts of kids that came here before us." Takuya whimpered, not hearing what Jade had said.

Jade smacked her head.

"OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH! What **have** I gotten myself into and what if there's no way of getting back out?!" Takuya freaked.

"For the love of Slifer, Takuya! GROW A SPINE!" Jade yelled in his face.

"Gees you two, calm down. We're all in this together." Zoe reassured them.

"OH! That makes me feel _so_ much better." Jade said, sarcastically.

"_Why'd I have to hit 'yes'?! Wait, I know. Because I'm my father's daughter._" She mentally screamed.

Then, she visibly flinched and frowned, remembering her father.

She missed him. A lot. And it was painful not having him with her anymore.

"I bet that's the train station." Alex pointed to a large dome with fires here and there, but they were under control.

"I hope there aren't any more of those ghost things," Zoe shivered, "not that I was scared or anything!" She added, quickly.

"Yeah. I always scream in terror whenever I'm not afraid." JP humphed, sarcastically.

"Besides, the worst thing a ghost could do to you is go right through you. They can't touch you. A lot of them are actually really friendly." The female brunette added.

"_I should know, since Professor Banner is a ghost._" She thought, sadly.

She missed the old ghost that lived inside her pet cat's stomach.

"Ah. Boys!" Zoe huffed, forgetting that Jade had spoken too.

The train rolled into the station and scratched to a halt, causing the blonde-boy to cover his ears from the high-pitched shriek.

Jade thought she heard the train groan, then the doors swung open. Everyone gathered around the doorway, nervously.

Except Jade, who was more curious then nervous.

At the doorway, were these little grey heads with rabbit ears and red beady eyes. They were laughing and saying to each other about 'playing' with the humans.

Jade looked at her D-tector for answers.

"Pagumon. In-training level, Lesser type and their attacks are Poison Bubble and Tackle." She read out-loud, thought only Alex was listening.

Suddenly, a large gust of steam pushed the gang out, Jade and Alex being the only ones to land on their feet, since Jade had held Alex's hand when she jumped off the train, sensing the 'attack' coming.

"That first step's a duzzy." A gruff voice, chuckled.

Jade knew it! The train just talked and it had groaned earlier, too.

"Yeah." Tommy agreed.

"Is it me or did the train just talk?" Takuya asked, freaking out.

"Hey! I'm not just any old train! I'm Trailmon! And I'm alive just like you. Although I am more handsome then you scrunched up little pugs thank you very much." The train huffed.

"Uh-huh. It's all right here. Trailmon. Champion level, Machine type and his attacks are called Cool Running and Emergency Break Spark. However, this pacific type of Trailmon is called Worm." Jade nodded, reading the information from her D-tector.

"Hey, you're smarter then you look human." Worm complimented, smirking.

"It's a girl thing. People do say I got my mother's brains when it comes to studying. Alex got Dad's amazing slacker skills!" Jade shrugged, chuckling to herself.

Alex giggling as Takuya fumed about saying that girls were smarter than boys and he just knew it was directed at him.

"Any who, this is Flame Terminal. You're in the heart of a Digimon Village." Worm told them.

"Digimon Village?" Takuya asked, confusion on his face.

Then the Pagumon started closing in, saying they wanted to be 'friends' with the human kids. The ones on the ground started to huddle together, while Alex hid behind Jade's arm and she prepared to attack if necessary.

"I have enough friends already." JP lied.

Jade could tell he was lying. She didn't know how, she just felt this aura around him that screamed 'I'm lonely' in her face. It was really depressing, but she ignored it.

Then, Tommy burst into tears.

"I didn't even wanna be on this train!" He whaled, the tears running like a waterfall.

"Sorry you feel bad, kiddo, but I can't stick around. If you wanna go home you'll have to find a Spirit or something." Worm told them as he rolled away.

"This kid should get a job as a fire alarm." JP muttered, talking about Tommy's crying.

Jade and Alex heard him and glared at him.

But Alex was usually very kind and gentle, so his glare held no power to it at all.

But Jade's sure made up for it.

"What's a Spirit and where can we get one? Hello?!" Zoe yelled, looking like a helpless maiden.

"Where are you doing?" Alex panicked, watching in worry as the train rolled away.

"Give us an answer! HEY!" JP shouted, still on the ground.

"Hey yourself! I've got a schedule to keep." Worm called back.

"Sissy! What are we going to do?!" Alex panicked even more, turning to face his sister.

"Relax bro. Panicking isn't going to help." Jade advised, placing her hands gently on his shoulders.

Alex took some deep breaths, while Takuya got up off the ground.

"So… Guess that's it. We're all alone." Takuya concluded, as Worm disappeared.

JP grunted as he got up.

"Wait! Come back here!" He shouted.

Zoe followed his example.

"Yeah! Pretty please!" She begged.

Too late. Worm was gone.

Tommy continued to cry.

"Take me home!" Tommy screamed, got up and ran after the train.

"Tommy! Calm down!" Jade called as she chased him.

"Hey wait!" Takuya called.

Neither of them stopped. Takuya groaned.

"Tommy stop!" Takuya yelled as he started to chase him and Jade.

"Why do I get the feeling we'll be spending all our time rescuing the baby?" JP asked the blondes that were with him.

Tommy was fast for his age. Jade couldn't quite keep up. And Takuya was panting again.

When Tommy reached the edge, he started to walk on the train tracks, still crying.

But Jade still followed him.

"Tommy! Jade get back here!" Takuya yelled, stopping at the edge.

"Go away!" Tommy shouted, arms out to keep him balanced.

"This isn't helping, you're gonna fall!" Takuya yelled at the 8-year-old, making a fist.

"At least I won't be here anymore!" Tommy cried, refusing to look back.

There was no way Jade was going to have **any** of that talk.

"I'll take you home." Jade promised, softly.

"Huh?" Tommy asked, curiously.

Tommy stopped crying and Jade placed her hands on his shoulder while he was standing still.

"That's right. Worm said that if we find the Spirit, we can go home, right?" Jade asked, looking over his shoulder and smiling at him.

After a moment of silence, Tommy nodded and smiled.

"Right." Tommy confirmed, now some confidence in his tone.

"And I promise I'll get you back to your Mom and Dad safe and sound." Jade vowed, seriousness and reassurance in her strong tone.

"Okay. I'm coming back." Tommy said, nodding.

Jade gave him some space to turn, but then he slipped.

"Tommy!" Takuya and Jade yelled.

Jade lunged forward, grabbed Tommy's hand.

"Gotcha!" Jade claimed, remember that was her dad's catch-phrase.

Then she slipped, but she grabbed the train tracks.

"Jade!" Takuya screamed.

Jade grunted and looked down at Tommy, who was holding her hand tight.

She turned her head and haled Tommy up with her hand, then got him to grab the railing with his arms and legs, while Jade pulled herself up and hung on by her arms, since she was too tired to pull the rest of herself up.

"You okay?" Jade asked the little boy, who looked ready to cry again.

"Ye-yeah." Tommy stammered, fright in his voice.

Takuya breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't move. I'm coming to get you." Takuya promised and was about to walk over to them, when a green light court his eye and stopped him.

The green light court Tommy's and Jade's too, so they looked.

The village was on fire!

But that wasn't all.

The fire was green and the village was turning into Data!

"Look what you've got me into!" A voice yelled, harshly.

"Help! Help! Help! Help! Help!" A panicked voice yelled, franticly.

From the flames, a white creature with a pink waist band and a yellow rabbit with red pants appeared and were running away from the flames.

And they ran straight into Takuya.

Jade cracked a grin. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn't help but think he looked funny like that.

Then she reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out her D-tector that she had placed in there as she ran after Tommy.

"It's a human." The white one gasped.

"Bokomon. Rookie level, Mutant type and his attacks are Wild Escape Dash and Book of Knowledge. Definitely harmless." Jade read from her D-tector.

"You think everything's a human." The rabbit pouted.

"Neemon. Rookie level, Beast type and attacks are Escape Dash and Feign Sleep. That's when he pretends to sleep to avoid confrontations. Another harmless fella." Jade read, smiling.

"Don't start with me you!" Bokomon yelled at Neemon as he pulled out a magnifying class.

"I'm human! Would you mind getting of me now!?" Takuya yelled, freaked as heck.

"I'm so sorry. His fault." Bokomon apologised, but didn't move.

"Yeah, my fault. Hey!" Neemon apologised, then yelped the last part.

There was a horrid roar heard and everyone looked to the source.

The green fire.

There was a creature that resembled a wolf with black shell-like armour, shoulder pads that looked like a wolf's head, huge claws on his paws and a long dinosaur-like tail.

"What is that?" Takuya asked, frightened.

"Pegasus would pay to see this." Jade silently thought, remembering her father's friend's boss.

"That is one bad dog. Bad dog! Cerberumon. Special attack: Emerald blaze. And that's why we need your help." Bokomon explained, looking at Takuya expectantly.

"He's also a Beast type, his title is the 'Watchdog of Hell' and his other attacks are Portals of Darkness and Styx Killer." Jade added, looking at the picture of the mutt.

"Where's the ancient Spirit?" Cerberumon growled, glaring towards Takuya.

Takuya started to sweat.

"So whenever you're ready, go and get him." Bokomon told Takuya, as he hid behind his arm.

"That would be good." Neemon whimpered as he hid behind Takuya's other arm.

"I can sense the Spirit all over this town. I must destroy it." Cerberumon growled, fiercely.

"No way! It's mine!" Takuya yelled, instantly regretting it.

Bokomon and Neemon laughed nervously while Jade banged her head on the train track.

"Unbelievable!" Jade hissed.

"_He's almost as reckless as me and Rex!_" She thought.

Then, sadness hit her again at the mental mention of her old dinosaur loving friend.

"Then you shall be destroyed with it. EMERALD BLAZE!" Cerberumon yelled and spat green fire at Takuya.

Back at the station, all the Pagumon stopped taunting the 3 human children and hid under the platform. The kids were curious as to why the Pagumon stopped, so they looked and saw the green fire going straight for Takuya!

"SISSY!" Alex screamed, in worry as Zoe held him back.

But luckily, the fire had only blocked Takuya's path, it hadn't touched him yet.

"What are you crazy?! Run already Takuya!" Jade screamed, fearing for her companion.

"Yeah, but where am I supposed to go?" Takuya asked, with Bokomon and Neemon on his shoulders.

"Anywhere but here!" Neemon screamed once he saw the green fire heading their way.

Takuya jumped to the train tracks, ran over and grabbed Tommy.

"I gotcha ya bubby!" Takuya reassured him, while Tommy clung to him for dear life and Jade pulled herself up onto the train tracks.

"That mutt is going to eat up the whole village!" Bokomon yelled with a pumped fist and turning back to glare at the Watchdog of Hell.

"Oh great!" Takuya yelled and Jade muttered, sarcastically.

Where the green flames used to be, was Data that Cerberumon was swallowing whole without a second though.

"There go the train tracks." Neemon whimpered, fearfully.

The train tracks started to tilt. Jade grabbed Takuya and Tommy with her arms to keep them together when they fell.

"Takuya!" JP yelled, standing by the edge.

"Oh no!" Zoe cried, her hands flying to her mouth.

"SISSY!" Alex screamed, going on his hands and knees, gripping the edge like a vice.

Slipping, slipping, slipping and fall.

Tommy, Takuya, Neemon and Bokomon yelled in fright while Jade held them all to her chest and they landed with a thud.

"_Man, I really gotta stop becoming the pillow._" Jade mentally scolded herself, hurt.

"Is anyone hurt?" Takuya asked, lifting his head from Jade's shoulder.

"Winded but fine." Jade coughed, only just having the strength to say that.

Then Jade noticed Takuya's D-tector has slid away from them and was making a really weird notice.

Takuya noticed it too.

"Hey my D-tector." The male brunette gasped.

Suddenly, it shot out a light toward a pillar of normal red fire.

"No way!" Takuya gasped, making a fist and getting off Jade.

Suddenly, the red pillar of flames sort of exploded, making the humans and Digimon jump back in fright and it turned into a pillar of blue flames.

"What is-" Takuya was cut off.

"It's… The Spirit." Bokomon said and stud up.

A mini statue of a man with red armour appeared in the flames.

"Spirit of Flame." Bokomon told them, mystically.

It stud there, majestically, entrancing Takuya.

"The Spirit." Takuya gasped, almost as if under a spell.

"See? That wasn't so hard." Jade told Tommy, who nodded excitedly.

"Time to go home!" Takuya told them, with a firey determination in his eyes.

That's when the humans and Digimon stud up on their own two feet.

"But how am I support to get it and what do I do with it when I do?" Takuya asked, confused.

Jade sensed movement, heard a grunt and got in a protective stand in-front of Tommy while the Digimon clung to her arms in worry.

"No need to worry about that." Cerberumon grinned, sickly.

Takuya and Tommy turned around, Tommy instantly grabbing the girl's blazer in fear.

"For it will soon be destroyed! HA!" Cerberumon yelled and charged.

Takuya looked nervous.

He looked at Jade through the corner of his eyes.

Her arms were spread out wide, with her eyes threatening to become gold, Tommy was clinging to her in fear and Bokomon and Neemon hid behind her arms.

Takuya got that firey determination in his eyes again and stepped forward.

He reached down and grabbed a metal poll.

His companions looked at him, oddly.

"This sure ranks pretty high on a scale of one-to-stupid." Takuya half joked and held the poll up, making Cerberumon comp down on it and stop for a minute.

Jade dragged Tommy, Bokomon and Neemon away just in time to see Cerberumon snap the poll and jump over Takuya, but the Goggle-Head grabbed the Watchdog of Hell's tail.

"Awww man!" Takuya yelled as he was pulled into the pillar if blue flames.

"Takuya!" Jade yelled, in worry.

"Get out of my way human! Or suffer my wrath!" Cerberumon growled, threateningly.

"No!" Takuya argued, stubbornly.

"But I hope his wrath isn't as bad as it sounds." He admitted under his breath.

Suddenly, Cerberumon was lit like firewood and yowling in pain.

"The Spirit's power!" The Watchdog of Hell yowled and jumped out of the flames.

He rolled on the flour for a second, then lifted his head.

"That hurt." Cerberumon growled, burn marks all over his body.

"_Great. Even the 'Watchdog of Hell' is a total sissy._" Jade thought, sweat-dropped and slumping her shoulders.

"But what about Takuya?" Tommy asked, fearful for the other brunette.

Instantly, Jade turned back towards the flaming pillar, hoping that the boy inside was alright.

"I'm fine. But…" Takuya told them and looked at his hands, not a single mark on them.

He looked up and came face-to-face with the mini statue known as 'The Spirit'.

"Ancient Spirit." Takuya breathed, entranced once again.

Jade looked at his eyes.

She started to see small red flames appear in his eyes as he gazed at the Spirit.

Jade thought she saw the silhouette of a man with the same armour as the Spirit and a mane of blonde hair was walking over to Takuya and he was walking over to him.

Suddenly, Takuya got up and reached out his arms.

"SPIRIT!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Then, Takuya's D-tector started to rise and it floated over to his stretched out arm. It fit perfectly and Takuya continued to yell as he pointed his D-tector at the Spirit and it was downloaded.

"**It is time.**" The woman from before said.

Takuya roared.

Suddenly, he was surrounded in a cocoon of Data.

"**EXACUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!**" Jade heard Takuya scream.

When the Data disappeared, there was a human-figure with horns on his head, blue-eyes and a wild blonde mane standing there. He had black tights and red armour on his two-toed feet, ankle-to-the-knee plates on his hips, a belt with an odd yellow symbol on it, all along his arms and his chest armour had some white armour under the red armour.

"AGUNIMON!" The creature screamed.

"What?! A human turned into a Digimon?!" Cerberumon yelled in outrage.

"What'd he turn into?" Tommy asked, slight fear in his tone.

"Well, let me see." Bokomon said, as he started flicking through the pages in his book.

"No way!" JP gasped, on his hands and knees.

"Everyway." Zoe gasped, also on her hands and knees.

"**That's** Takuya?" Alex asked, surprised and leaned over the edge.

"Big red, likes flame, not Santa Clause…" Bokomon mumbled as he looked in his book.

"Agunimon." He finally gasped.

Agunimon swiftly threw his hand to the side and the flames died at his command.

"Oh my! I mean… Oh my!" Neemon gasped, speechless.

"No matter who you are you'll lose!" Cerberumon claimed and lunged at Agunimon.

Agunimon turned around.

"EMERALD BLAZE!" Cerberumon screamed his signature attack.

Agunimon flipped out of the way. He scooped up Jade, Tommy, Bokomon and Neemon up in his arms. He jumped up high and, with a back flip, landed on the land above them. He set them down, then back flipped away.

"Wow." Tommy and Alex gasped, as if entranced by his grace.

"Multa cool!" Zoe praised and put her hand over her heart.

JP groaned.

"Show off." Jade muttered, playfully and giggled.

Cerberumon saw Agunimon coming his way and his shoulder pads pointed upwards at him.

"PORTALS OF DARKNESS!" Cerberumon screamed.

The eyes of the wolf-heads blasted cercal-shaped holes into the air that led into a world of pitch-black darkness.

Agunimon jumped across the ground, dodging the Portals of Darkness that would take him to the Dark Area.

But Agunimon did fall in one and was hanging on to the side, but Cerberumon slashed his claws and made Agunimon fall.

"AGUNIMON!" Jade and Alex yelled, worried for their friend.

They knew first hand that Darkness wasn't evil, but when it was used for such purposes, it can be a frightening experience to fight it. Especially alone.

All but one of the holes closed.

Jade closed her eyes and strained her hearing.

SLASH!

SLASH!

"_Agunimon isn't doing too well._" Jade thought, sweating.

SLASH!

SLASH!

CLANK!

GROWL!

"No one escapes the Darkness! EMERAL BLAZE!"

PUNCH!

"How about I defeat you without escaping?"

GROWL!

"PYRO TORNADO!"

"No! You can't!"

Jade snapped her eyes open and saw a whirlwind of fire coming out of the hole.

Everyone gasped.

Jade turned her eyes gold and saw Agunimon in the fire with Cerberumon, who looked like he wasn't doing too well.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed." Bokomon confessed, astonished.

"But what if he's in trouble?" The blondes asked, fearing the worst.

That's when Agunimon's whirlwind of fire disappeared to show the others that he was okay and that he just kicked Cerberumon in his stomach.

"Trouble? No, no, no, no, no!" Neemon sang, merrily.

"A human child defeated me?! NO!" The Watchdog of Hell screamed.

There was an explosion on Cerberumon's back, indicating his defeat.

Zoe giggled.

"That's amazing." Tommy smiled, in awe.

Alex nodded his head, rapidly, in agreement.

"He's beautiful!" Zoe gushed and held her face like a fan-girl.

JP frowned and Jade scoffed.

"I **hate** fan-girls." Jade growled.

She remembered having to deal with her father's and brother's fan-girls when she was younger and dealing with her mother's and her own fan-boys. Those were the most annoying moments of her life an' she loathed them to this day.

Meanwhile, a ring of Data appeared around Cerberumon.

"Now to take the Fractal Code." Agunimon said and pulled out Takuya's D-tector.

Agunimon did some graceful hand movements, downloaded Cerberumon's Data and he turned into an egg.

Agunimon flouted to the ground and the egg flew off.

"Hey. Look at the pretty little light." Neemon said, sounding like a moron.

"You nincompoop! That pretty little light is Cererumon's essence, so it looks like we're not done with him yet." Bokomon scolded, while reading his book.

Jade ignored the two and jumped off the ledge.

"JADE!" The others screamed.

Jade landed on her feet, going on a knee, then got up and walked over to where Agunimon was.

"You alright, Goggle-Head?" Jade asked, teasingly.

Agunimon was covered in a cocoon of Data and turned back into Takuya.

Agunimon had been on his hands and knees when he turned to Takuya, so Jade was able to get under his arm and give him support.

Takuya panted long and hard as Jade supported him, with his arm over her neck.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Man that's tiring." The male brunette panted.

Takuya then looked at his D-tector.

"But wha-what happened? How did I know how to do all that stuff?" Takuya asked.

Then the symbol from earlier appeared on the screen of his D-tector.

"**You are Digidestind.**" The woman from before told them.

"I'm what now?" Takuya asked, confusion on his face.

"**Digidestind. Chosen for great things, but don't be frightened. The one who choose you, is you.**" The woman assured.

"I chose, myself?" Takuya asked, twice as confused.

"Looks like we won't being going home anytime soon, then." Jade sighed, sadly.

"_These guys have no idea what they've gotten themselves into, but I'll bet you know. To find out, tune into the next Digimon: Digital Monsters."_


	2. Lobomon of Light & Yumon of Chaos

**Digimon Frontier-Episode 2: Lobomon: Warrior of Light, Yumon: A Demon's Servant**

"_Everybody in town was getting these strange messages on their cell-phones. Takuya, being a Goggle-Head, followed the directions and this other kid, Koji, and ended up with Jade, JP, Zoe, Tommy and Alex on a train to the Digital World. Tommy wanted to go home, but he picked a really stupid way to do it. Takuya and Jade tried to rescue him, but things got a little out of control. Bokomon and Neemon were running away from Cerberumon, a Digimon who was trying to destroy something called a 'Spirit'. To make a long story short, Takuya merged with the ancient Spirit of Flame and turned into Agunimon. Not bad, for a Goggle-Head."_

Once everyone was down there, Takuya was even more confused.

Jade had explained what had happened, but he didn't clearly remember it all.

"What just happened to me?" The male brunette asked, since he was still confused.

"You mean, before or after you turned into a Digimon?" Zoe asked, with a hand on her hip.

"Me? A Digimon?" Takuya asked, making sure he understood.

"Yes. Through the proses of Digivolution." Bokomon stated, in a matter of fact.

He even walked in-front of them with one of his fingers raised.

"Digi-what?" Jade and Takuya asked, in confusion.

"It had to be something I pressed." The male brunette thought out-load and pressed one of the buttons on his D-tector.

Nothing happened.

Takuya gave it a funny look, while Jade stood up straight and hummed in thought, placing a fist to her mouth.

"Come on! Digivolution start! Operation: Turn me into a Digimon-" Takuya's frantic attempt to evolve, was cut off.

Suddenly, after he pressed one of the buttons, his D-tector shot out Data.

"**Fractal Code: Rendered.**" The woman's voice said.

Neemon's eyes became dinner-plates and he gasped.

"Oh boy, I think I broke it." Takuya panicked.

Jade didn't know why, but seeing the Data float away…

Gave her a good feeling.

Like something she cared about greatly, that had gone missing, was found once again.

It made her smile.

"I knew it! It's the Fractal Code!" Bokomon claimed.

The Data floated downwards and connected the floating island, known as Flame Terminal, to the mainland.

Everyone gasped in astonishment as a lush forest appeared where the Data had gone.

"There's no way this is happening." JP gasped, unbelievingly.

"Well wake up and smell the coffee, JP. **That** just happened." Jade smirked and to etherise her point, she pointed at the forest when she said 'that'.

"I can't wait to go play!" Alex smiled, excitedly.

Takuya got up and walked over to the other humans.

"Whoa. Did I do all that?" He gasped, looking freaked out and confused.

"_Looks like it._" Jade thought, shrugging off the feeling she had that they weren't alone.

* * *

After everyone climbed up, all the Digimon were stampeding to get to the forest, so the humans shrugged and followed them.

"It's the dawn of regeneration!" Bokomon screamed in happiness.

"No more living in a train-station!" Neemon agreed.

Jade and Alex smiled at how happy all the Digimon were.

They couldn't help but feel like the Digital World had suddenly become their new home, even though they had barley been there 5 minutes.

"Trailmon will never go 'WOO-WOO' in my ear again!" The rabbit added.

Jade and Alex laughed at that statement.

"_Poor Neemon._" They thought, giggling.

"Nice going my human friend! By the way, I'm Bokomon: Keeper of the Book, at your service." The white mutant said, turning to face them and smiled.

"And I'm Neemon: Keeper of my pants, also at your service, you awesome human!" The rabbit smiled, also turning to look at them.

"On behalf of the Digital World, except our thanks, oh human who has restored what has been lost." Bokomon thanked, being very respectful of Takuya.

"Call me Takuya and I still don't know why all this 'Fractal Code' stuff is such a big deal, anyway." The male brunette told them, lightly panting.

"What? You really don't know?" Bokomon asked, not believing his ears.

"Oh he doesn't know." Neemon sang.

"Well, in our defence, we've only been here not even half-an-hour." Alex panted.

"He's right. We can't already know everything about a place we only just arrived at." Jade agreed.

"_Although, I feel like I've been here before._" She thought, silently.

"Hey. Why are we running?" JP asked, sending Zoe a flirty smile.

"I don't know." Zoe whispered, ignoring the flirt.

Then, Bokomon stopped running and pulled a book out of his waist band.

"Behold! Before the evil Cherubimon came, our world was a beautiful place." Bokomon began, showing the group a page in his book as they began walking.

"Flowers, trees and butterflies." Neemon added, merrily.

"Neemon! I'm in the middle of something here!" Bokomon scolded, glaring at the rabbit.

"Sorry!" Neemon sang.

"His power made many Digimon go wild and our world started to die. The only way to bring back everything that was lost, is with the Fractal Code." Bokomon explained, as they crossed a narrow land-bridge.

"And I made it happen. With this little devise." Takuya gasped, looking at his D-tector in astonishment.

"Nice job, Takuya! Welcome to the infamous biasness of saving the world!" Jade smiled and slapped his back.

"Huh?" JP asked, wondering what she was talking about.

"Wow. I wonder if I could do it too." Zoe thought out-load, looking at her D-tector as she pointed it at the sun.

JP frowned.

"I'm sure we all can. After all, we all have a D-tector." Alex pointed out.

"Not you bro, remember. You got a D-3." Jade reminded him, smiling kindly.

"Then I guess I won't be Spirit Evolving anytime soon." The male blonde laughed.

"Maybe." The female brunette told him, grinning.

"I know." JP muttered and grinned.

He looked at Tommy, who was looking at his D-tector in excitement.

"Hey, Tommy!" JP whispered and pulled him back.

"Our devises look the same." Zoe said, comparing her D-tector to Takuya's.

"Maybe girls just aren't meant to be Digimon." Takuya teased.

"I wouldn't say that out-loud, man. Don't forget that my sis could kill you in a heartbeat if you got her mad enough." Alex warned, not liking the mental image.

"Yeah. Excuse you!" Zoe agreed.

No one but Jade noticed what was happening behind them, so she told her brother she'd be back in a minute and ran over to the two boys.

"Hey shorty. I have an idea." JP told him.

"What is it, Jp?" Jade asked, slightly confused.

"Just follow me, okay?" JP said, sternly.

The two nodded and walked in silence…

* * *

…Until they made it to the land bridge. That's when JP spoke.

"This place sucks. It sucks with teeth!" JP commented, harshly.

"_Resisting urge to strangle._" Jade thought, her eye twitching and hands flexing.

"You with me guys?" JP asked, a cool tone in his voice.

"No." Jade muttered, growling.

"Yeah, well I guess so, but…" Tommy trailed and stopped.

JP and Jade also stopped.

"But? But what?" JP asked.

"When Takuya turned into a Digimon, he looked killer cool! Just like a super hero!" Tommy said, excitedly holding his D-tector up with both hands.

"He wasn't that great." JP gagged, unimpressed.

"Yes he was." Jade teased, grinning.

"_Someone is very jealous._" She mentally sang.

"I… I always wanted to be a hero." Tommy confessed.

"_Me too, kid. Me too._" Jade thought sadly, as she held her arm, remembering her parents.

"_Wow Jay-Girl! You sure are getting strong! I'm so proud of you!" Her father would say and then start gently throwing her in the air and catching her, both laughing._

"Kid take it from me, this hero stuff, is way over-rated and I should know." JP advised.

"_What? Did you save someone?_" Jade thought, forgetting to ask it out-loud.

"It's entirely too much work, it's dangerous, not to mention annoying. There's always some sap yelling 'oh save me! Save me'!" JP told them, discouraging Tommy and getting Jade peeved.

"Well, I guess so." The discouraged Tommy sighed.

"Atta boy. What do ya say we find our way outta this dump?" JP asked, dragging Tommy along by his hand.

"Listen here, JP." Jade warned.

JP and Tommy stopped to look at her.

"My parents have been heroes in more ways than one, since they were 15-years-old. And what you just said, greatly disrespected them. So if I were you, I'd change my attitude, pal!" Jade warned, glaring deadly daggers at JP.

"You're parents are heroes?" Tommy asked, amazed.

"Yeah, they were. But you probably should go back home, I guess. This place is dangerous and I'd hate myself forever if something bad happened to you, Tommy." Jade said, having calmed down.

The boys nodded and began to walk around town.

* * *

Eventually, they came across one of the Pagumon, sitting on an oven from Victorian times.

"Yo, Tommy, Jade. Check this little guy out." JP chuckled.

"_Oh Obelisk._" Jade thought, sweating.

"Hey! Egg-shaped dude with ears! What's shaking?" JP asked, attempting to sound cool.

The Pagumon looked at him, annoyance in his eyes.

"Listen, this world of yours isn't really our scene, thing is we don't know how to leave. So what do ya say? Could ya help us out?" JP asked, sounding cool.

"Buzz off!" Pagumon groaned, turning his head/body.

"I'll make it worth your while." JP grinned and dug into his pockets.

Pagumon gave him a curious look, while Jade started to get a bad feeling…

A very bad feeling.

JP pulled out a chocolate bar, opened it and snapped off two pieces, grinning like a fool.

"How about a bar of premium chocolate?" JP asked, sounding like a briber.

Suddenly, Pagumon jumped down and chomped it right out of his hand, making the humans yell in fright.

Pagumon landed on the ground, behind them.

"Alright, egg-face, talk to me and you get the whole bar." JP said, slight disapproval in his voice, as he bent on his knees.

Pagumon chewed on it for a minute or two more, then grinned and turned to face them.

"Take Angler the Trailmon at the station. He can take you two back where you came from." Pagumon told them, a sick grin on his face.

"Wow, for real?" Tommy asked, smiling excitedly.

"Now fork it over!" Pagumon snapped, grinning.

"Thanks, bud!" JP said, merrily.

He left the chocolate on the ground and started running like a fool, with Tommy running next to him and Jade was a little bit behind.

* * *

Eventually, they ran too far ahead of Jade, so she lost sight of them.

She took a detour and bumped into someone, knocking them both to the ground.

"Sorry! I should be more careful!" Jade grinned sheepishly.

She heard a soft chuckle and saw a hand extended to her. Jade looked at it curiously, then took it and was pulled up.

"Thanks man!" Jade said, cheerfully and finally looked at the face of her helper.

Bandana-boy.

"Hey! You're the guy from the elevator!" Jade pointed out, gasping.

Bandana-boy nodded.

"Well, I hope to see ya again soon! I gotta catch up with some idiots that were running like fools. Have you seen them?" Jade asked, still holding Bandana-Boy's hand.

He nodded and pointed towards the train-station with his other hand.

"Thanks man!" She yelled as she ran off to catch up with Tommy and JP, while she heard the other boy chuckle.

Jade laughed to herself.

"_Not only does he look like him, but he talks as much as he does, too._" She smiled to herself, remember someone.

_His face had light skin, was framed by dark-blue hair he inherited from his father, could be in a ponytail if it were any longer and his eyes were like his mother's, sapphire bright._

"Miss ya… Zack Satoshi Truesdale." She muttered, sad tears threatening to fall.

When she reach the train-station, she saw Tommy and JP running as fast as they could, screaming their heads off as they were chased by Pagumon.

"What the heck did you guys do!?" Jade screamed, as she ran.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the forest with Takuya, Zoe, Alex, Bokomon and Neemon, the small group of Pagumon that was with them were admiring all the space they now had, while Zoe was tapping on a window, Alex played tag with the Poyomon and Takuya finally noticed something.

"Hey, where's Tommy?" He asked, looking over to Zoe for the answer.

"He's with JP and Jade, I think." Zoe answered.

"Maybe they're playing hide and go seek." Bokomon suggested, popping through the window Zoe had been tapping on.

"Maybe they got eaten by a bunch of big ol' bears." Neemon chirped, also popping out of the window.

"Alright, now I'm worried." Zoe said, taking a breath.

"Jay-Gal's not back yet?" Alex asked, fear in his eyes as he walked over to Takuya.

Takuya crossed his arms, in a thoughtful way.

"We better go look for 'em." He suggested.

Alex nodded.

Zoe stood up, with her hands behind her head, while the window fell on top of the rabbit and mutant.

* * *

Back with the 3 brunettes, they were running for their lives, as they crossed the bridge.

The Pagumon were still after them and would occasionally catch up and bite them hard, but whenever Jade's eyes changed to gold, it seemed they'd back off for a couple minutes.

But every time that happened, Jade would get super tiered and if this kept up, she was going to collapse.

Someone had to save them!

* * *

Meanwhile, with the 2 blondes and brunette, the worried group of friends were calling the missing humans' names as loud as they could.

"Where could they be?" Zoe whimpered in fear as she looked around.

"JADEDENA JUDAI YUKI, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Alex screamed at the top of his lunges while cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Hey, Poyomon!" Bokomon sang, gaining the marshmallows' attention.

"Have you seen any human children?" The Keeper of the Book asked, in a sing-song way.

"We saw 3 being chased into the forest by Pagumon. Over there." All the Poyomon said and looked behind them.

Neemon's eyes became dinner plates.

"That's worse than bears." The rabbit sweated, worry in his slit eyes.

"Pagumon?" Zoe asked, kneeling to Bokomon's level.

"_Jade already told us what they are! These guys should listen more!_" Alex thought, pouting that he was the only one who listened to her.

"Nasty little Digimon with bad attitudes." Bokomon told the blonde, turning his head to look at her.

Takuya got a frown on his face.

* * *

Back with the brunette trio, they were able to lose the Pagumon and were hiding behind a small ledge…

Much to Jade's silent relief.

She was almost falling asleep, but Tommy made sure she didn't fall asleep.

"Ah! Ah! Come on, make me Digivolve! Make me Digivolve now!" Tommy begged, as he rapidly pressed the buttons on his D-tector.

"Keep it down!" JP hushed, being a look out and turning his head left and right.

"I am keeping it down, but I wanna Digivolve like Takuya so we can beat them." Tommy protested, stubbornly.

"That's crazy talk! What do ya think a little runt like you can do?" JP snapped, bending down and making a fist.

"Apparently more than you." Jade muttered, but neither of them heard her.

"Besides, Digivolving looks kind of painful, did you ever think about that?" JP continued, sassily.

"I bet Digivolving isn't as painful as getting eaten alive by those crazy Digimon." Tommy shot back, equally as sassy.

"You two are acting just like two of my old friends, you know." Jade chuckled, imagining the faces of her old friends.

_One of them had a bush baby-blue hair he inherited from his father, sky-blue eyes that same from his mother and light skin. This friend was a boy._

_While the other had long and braded black hair, sea-blue eyes and deeply tanned skin. This friend was also a boy._

"Hey, Jade. Are you okay? You look tiered." Tommy asked in worry, taking a glance at her.

"I'm fine, just need to take a break." She lied.

JP bent down and placed his hand on her forehead.

"Well, you're burning up, so that's not good. Are you sure you're okay though?" He asked, making eye contact with Jade.

"Yeah, I am a little tiered. But I'll live." Jade admitted, smiling reassuringly at him.

Then, they heard chuckling. With a dreaded look on their faces, they turned to look at what caused the laughter.

Pagumon.

They screamed and started running, but JP tripped and a hole in the ground swallowed them whole, Tommy accidentally dropping his D-tector.

They landed in a pile of leaves, hard.

"Boys! Are you okay?" Jade yelled, franticly.

She tried to get up and run over to them, but a sharp pain in her ankle, forced her to her knees.

"Yeah, we're fine." JP told her, looking around.

"Jade!" Tommy gasped and ran over to her.

"I'm okay, Tom. Just a sprained ankle." She smiled, reassuringly but pain was in her voice.

"Here. Let me help ya." JP offered and lifted one of Jade's arms over his neck, while Tommy put his head under her other arm.

"Thanks guys." She smiled and they started walking away.

* * *

Back with Takuya and the others, they were still searching for their friends.

"Tommy!" Takuya yelled, cupping his hands.

"Tommy!" Zoe yelled, also cupping her hands.

"JP!" Takuya screamed, turning his head.

"Answer me!" Zoe screamed, also turning her head.

"JADEDENA, WHERE ARE YOU!" Alex shrieked, running around like mad-man while using her full first name then taking a break.

"Ahhhh. Just as peaceful as I remember it. Except for the screaming kids." Bokomon sighed, looking up at the sky.

"They are loud." Neemon agreed, looking down at his partner.

"What do you expect? Our friends and my sister are gone!" Alex yelled at them and ran to try and catch up with Takuya and Zoe.

After a while, Alex court up to them, but decided to give them some alone time and just stalk them.

He was, after all, his Uncle's Nephew.

"Where could they have gotten off to?" Takuya thought out-load, hands in his pockets.

"Poor Tommy, he's such a little guy. He didn't even want to be here in the first place." Zoe pitied, sympathetically.

"Yeah, you're right. He really shouldn't be out without his parents. I guess I'm just gonna have to keep my eye on him." Takuya agreed, looking at the ground as they walked.

Zoe giggled.

"Look at you, pretending to be all mature, how adorable!" She gushed, giddily.

Behind the tree, Alex sniggered.

"Hey! What do ya mean 'pretending'? I'm in the 6th grade!" Takuya pouted, giving Zoe an accusing look.

"Really? You're in the same grade as I am?" Zoe questioned, teasingly.

Takuya gave her a clueless look, once she turned away from him, walking sassily with her hands behind her back.

"Who've thought? I was sure you were 2 or 3 years younger, at least." Zoe grinned, cheekily and turned around.

"Wait a minute! What's that support to mean?!" Takuya asked, pouting.

"When's your birthday?" Zoe asked, with a knowing grin.

"In August!" The Goggle-Head pouted.

"Ha! I knew it! I am older! I was born in May! That makes me a grand total of 3 months older than you!" The female blonde grinned and held up 3 fingers to emphasis her point.

Takuya gritted his teeth, but quickly stopped himself.

"That doesn't mean anything!" He shot back and walked towards her.

"Whatever." She sang and giggled.

They walked in silence for two minutes, until Takuya noticed something on the ground.

"Hey, check it out." Takuya said, as he picked up the object.

"That belongs to Tommy!" Zoe gasped.

She walked over to take a better look, but she slipped on the edge. Out of instinct, she wrapped her arms around the nearest thing to try and stop her fall.

Takuya.

However, since he wasn't expecting it, he was pulled down with her, both screaming for their lives.

Alex gasped and jumped over, but not into the hole.

"ARE YOU GUYS OKAY!?" He yelled, getting on his knees and looking down into the hole.

"Whoa." Alex gasped, flinching back.

Zoe looked so fearful and had put her hands on Takuya's shoulders, as if about to kiss him.

"Should I leave you two alone?" Alex asked, grinning mischievously.

"WH-NO WAY! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Zoe yelled, blushing like crazy.

"Whoa! Easy girl! No need to scream." Alex chuckled, waving his hands in a surrender fashion and went to get Bokomon and Neemon.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jade was able to walk on her own again, but Tommy still held her hand.

Jade had been in a similar situation when she was Tommy's age and knew how scared he was, so she just let him hold her hand and would squeeze it, gently, every now and then, letting him know it was going to be alright.

JP still had some of the leaves from before with him, so he used them to find out which direction the wind was blowing.

"The wind's blowing in this direction, so if we walk this way, we should find a way out." He theorised as they walked down a path.

"Are you sure?" Tommy asked, looking at the older boy curiously.

"Yeah, why?" JP asked, stopping to face the 8-year-old.

Jade and Tommy stopped, too.

"So there's no chance that we're walking around in circles?" The little boy asked, looking up at his older female friend.

"Well, now that you mention it, it sure feels like it." Jade muttered, nodding to her younger friend.

"What gave you guys that idea?" JP asked, sounding some-what insulted.

"This cross, here." Tommy explained and pointed at the wall on his left.

Jade looked and saw it was the cross she and Tommy had made when they started out.

She silently groaned.

"So it's a cross, so what?" JP huffed, unimpressed.

"Well, Jade helped me draw it when we started out." Tommy clarified, turning his head back to JP.

JP jumped back in shock and Jade sighed.

"Oh, that means we're lost. We'll be stuck down here for days." The little brunette cried.

"That's if we're lucky, it could be months." The large brunette added, bitterly.

Tommy started crying. Again.

"Not again." JP sighed, giving Tommy a look.

Jade sighed sadly and bent down to Tommy's level, bringing him into a gentle huge as he cried on her shoulder.

"Here, this'll make you feel better." The large brunette sighed, handing Tommy a chocolate bar.

Tommy looked up from Jade's shoulder and looked at the bar.

"Go on." JP insisted, not looking at the younger male brunette's face.

Tommy, hesitantly, took the bar from him while JP got himself his own bar.

They opened their respective bars, while Jade let go of Tommy and stood up, preparing to use her gold eyes at a moment's notice.

"Look on the bright side, at least we won't starve to death." JP reassured his companions, looking up from his chocolate.

Tommy and JP shared a look, then smiled and were about to chomp on their bars when….

"Guys, we got company." Jade warned them, staring up at the ceiling in slight horror.

That's when they noticed the whispers, stopped smiling and looked up at the ceiling.

There were multiple sets of red beady eyes and suddenly, a Pagumon jumped down smirking as he yelled "We're back" and the rest of his friends joined him.

The humans yelled and cried as they tried to get the little creatures of them.

"_NO!_" Jade's mind screamed.

Her eyes shifted from brown to gold once again and that seemed to create an invisible bobble that she willed to protected Tommy and JP from the attack, while she took them full-force.

"Here! Just take 'em!" JP cried and began to run away.

He threw 3 chocolate bars at the Pagumon, distracting them long enough for Tommy, JP and Jade to get away, the girl nearly collapsing from all the energy she had used and pain her body was in.

As they ran, they found themselves in a large dome-like room, filled with pips and had a large whole in the middle.

"HEPL! SOMEBODY!" JP screamed, running as fast as he could.

"I'M NOT A CHOCOLATE BAR!" Tommy yelled, also running for his life.

Jade wanted to scream and yell for her life, but she barely had the energy to run, let along run, scream and protect her friends.

* * *

Meanwhile, Takuya, Zoe, Alex, Bokomon and Neemon all heard their friends' screams and gasped.

"It's Tommy and JP!" Alex yelled, frightened since he didn't hear his sister's voice.

"We have to help them!" Zoe stated, looking at the two boys.

"I know that!" Takuya huffed, stubbornly.

The male brunette and female blonde glared at each other.

Alex groaned.

"You guys can have your lover's spat later! Right now we need to save our friends!" He hissed and started running.

Takuya and Zoe looked at him in shock and rage, not liking that comment about their 'lover's spat'.

"Alex, my boy, wait up!" Bokomon called, as he and Neemon chased the blonde male.

After sharing a quick look, Zoe and Takuya nodded to each other and started running.

* * *

Meanwhile, the 3 brunettes were still being attacked by the Pagumon.

Jade was using all her strength to protect Tommy and JP, but it wasn't working too well and Jade knew that if she kept using this much energy, she was about to drop.

But she still tried, for her friends' sake.

Suddenly, a battle cry was heard, distracting the Pagumon and Jade, forcing her eyes to shift back to brown and she wobbled.

She looked up and saw a figure, standing by one of the polls, smirking with pride.

"Bandanna-Boy?" Jade gasped, squinting her eyes.

The Pagumon growled and attacked the new comer.

"NO!" Jade cried in worry.

She tried to run towards them, but she put her injured foot forward first and fell on her knees, clasping her injured ankle in pain.

Meanwhile, Bandanna-Boy broke the poll he had slid down and prepared for battle.

The Pagumon tried to attack him, but he used the poll to defend himself. At one point, the Pagumon surrounded him, but with one kick, they all let go of him.

"Who's that?" Tommy gasped in awe.

"That guy's serious!" JP praised, excitedly.

By now, the pain in her ankle wasn't too bad, so Jade managed a small smirk.

"I guess he's good." She admitted, casually.

The ponytailed Warrior continued with his attack, smacking the Pagumon with his poll and almost never letting the little Lesser types get too close to him.

At one point, they surrounded him again, but by using his poll and spinning, he sent them all flying away and crashing into the wall, the leader being sent to the ceiling and crashed down again.

The boy smirked and put his poll by his side.

Jade smiled.

"Oh yeah, he's Zack's clone alright." She stated, prideful and confident.

"_I never realised how much I missed you, man._" She thought sadly and turned her vision to the ground.

"Oh yeah, human?"

Pagumon's pained and angered voice snapped Jade out of her thoughts and she looked at the little creature, praying that whatever would happen next, wouldn't be too bad.

"Don't smile yet!" Pagumon cried.

Suddenly, he was wrapped in Data and Jade became very fearful for the boy who saved her and her friends' lives.

When the Data disappeared, Pagumon had turned into a large bag of grey slop with dark metal plates with eyes on his head, hideous teeth and a few cables popping out of his side.

JP and Tommy screamed.

"I'll eat you up." The slop pile growled.

Bandanna-Boy grunted and went into battle once again.

Jade checked her D-tector for answers, hoping against hope that whatever that thing was now, wasn't too powerful.

"Raremon. If the smell of its rotting flesh doesn't knock you out, it's Acid Slug attack will. Champion level, Ghost type and his attacks include Stinking Gas, Metal Gas, Acid Slug and Rotten Tackle." Jade read out-loud.

She looked at Bandanna-Boy in worry.

Suddenly, Jade saw Raremon was gonna attack her and the others.

"Run boys!" She cried in fear.

Jade grabbed Tommy's hand and started running, JP ahead of the duo while Raremon glared at Jade.

The Digimon knew there was something different about her but he didn't like it.

While they ran and dodged Raremon's attacks, Tommy tripped and fell down, bringing Jade down behind him.

Seeing his chance, Raremon sent a wave of acid at the fallen duo.

"TOMMY!" Jade screamed in fear.

She picked herself up off the floor, getting to her knees, but she wasn't fast enough to reach Tommy.

Suddenly, she felt a hand grip her arm and pulled her along, helping her get to Tommy in time.

She picked him up and jumped the rest of the attack, just barely making it and landing on all fours.

Turning around, Jade saw it was Bandanna-Boy who had saved her and that Raremon's attack had made at least 17 clean cuts in the ground.

Tommy whimpered in fear as he clung to Jade like a life-line and Bandanna boy glared at the holes.

"ACID SLUG!" Raremon roared and shot out more of his acid at the fallen trio.

Jade yelped as Bandanna-Boy pulled her to her feet and they started running again, the other Pagumon cheering and Tommy whimpering as they ran around in circles, Jade holding him tightly with one arm while the other was being yanked by Bandanna-Boy.

Meanwhile, by the door, Takuya, Alex, Zoe, Bokomon and Neemon appeared, the blonde girl immediately covering her nose.

"EWW! It smells!" Zoe whimpered in disgust.

Alex gasped.

"JADE!" He cried, shock and worry in his tone.

Alex tried to run, but JP, who was by the door, stopped him by grabbing his waist.

"Are you crazy?!" JP yelled, struggling to hold the boy still.

Alex kicked and squirmed, but he couldn't break-free from JP's grip.

"Spirit! Wake up! I need you!" Takuya said, taking out his D-tector and looking at it.

Nothing happened.

"Come on! I'm not kidding here!" The Goggle-Head insisted, pressing buttons on his D-tector.

Still, nothing.

Takuya growled as he tried to evolve.

"Hey Takuya, no offence, but you may want to think about Spirit Evolving before stinky there turns your friends into goop." Bokomon advised, as Takuya continued to try in vain.

Meanwhile, Bandanna-Boy, Jade and Tommy were trapped with Raremon in-front, a hole behind them and were being backed towards the hole, death anyway they went.

"Going somewhere?" Raremon taunted, gruffly.

Jade knew there was nothing she could do.

If she used her powers, in just 5 second flat, she's pass out and worsen the situation. She couldn't run, she used up all her energy just trying to avoid Raremon and she couldn't help Bandanna-Boy at all.

"Come on! Come on!" Takuya cried, as sweat poured down his face.

Jade and Bandanna-Boy continued to back up, until Jade tripped and nearly fell in the hole, but Bandanna-Boy grabbed her wrist, stopping her and Tommy from falling.

With nowhere left to run, Jade got on her knees and held Tommy close to her, protectively and he clung to her shirt with worried tears falling down his face, while Jade glared at Raremon and Bandanna-Boy also got on his knees, glaring at the slop.

Jade was afraid she would die and let everybody down.

She wouldn't get to know her new friends, would never see her old ones again, she still hadn't found her parents who still needed her and she'd failed her brother.

"_I'm sorry guys._" Jade though in anguish, remember all of her friends' and families' faces.

But then, her eyes fell upon her father's face and she opened them, new found strength and determination in her eyes.

"_No… It's not over yet and I refuse to give up._" She promised herself, mentally.

Meanwhile, Alex could only think of one thing to do and he prayed that it worked.

"SPIRIT!" He and Takuya cried, hoping against hope that it would work.

And finally, it did.

Takuya became Agunimon and charged Raremon, pinning him against the wall.

Enraged, Raremon squirted his Acid Slug everywhere, trying to hit his attacker.

Agunimon jumped back and used his gauntlets to deflect the acid that came towards the two brunettes and one raven-bluenette he was protecting.

"Now's your chance! Run!" Agunimon yelled, turning to face the threesome.

Suddenly, Agunimon was wrapped in the Data and turned back into Takuya.

"Huh? What's going on? I turned back into me." Takuya gasped, looking himself over as the trio stood up.

Suddenly, the dark room was eliminated in light as Raremon's acid made servile holes in the walks and the group gasped in awe.

"Still here." Raremon sang, getting up.

He spat out more of his acid towards the group of 4.

"Watch out!" Takuya cried, pushing Tommy to the ground in order to protect him.

Accidentally, while pushing Tommy to the ground, Takuya knocked over Bandanna-Boy, making him fall into the hole.

"NO!" Jade screamed, horror on her face.

She lunged towards the edge and grabbed the boy's wrist before he could fall to his doom.

Bandanna-Boy gasped, rather shocked and impressed with the female brunette's strength and agility.

"Gimme your other hand!" Jade cried, a pleading and desperate look in her eyes.

He nodded and reached his hand towards Jade's other hand as she reach down towards him.

Once she had a firm grip on his hands, Jade haled him up, surprisingly finding it easy considering how much energy she had used during the day.

It must have been adrenalin.

Suddenly, Raremon shot his attack at the group again.

"JADE! LOOK OOOOOOOUUUUUUUT!" Alex cried, tears running down his face.

Jade didn't even have time to look up.

The ball of acid rammed into her shoulder, pushed her of the edge, forcing her and Bandanna-Boy to fall to their doom.

"Oh no!" Takuya gasped, looking up from his spot on the floor.

Tommy looked up and gasped.

"SSSSSSIIIIIISSSSSSSSSYYYYYY!" Alex cried in anguish.

Raremon spat his acid one more time, making it hit the ceiling and creating a hole that shone light into the hole that Jade and her companion had fallen in.

As Jade and Bandanna-Boy fell to their doom, he grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

The smell of the acid and melting flesh was making him sick, but he wanted to at least provide some comfort for this stranger, since she had risking so much just to save his life.

In response, Jade clenched the boy's shirt, feeling the tears filling up her eyes and escape into the sky.

"Thank you." She murmured, eyes still shut tight.

The boy nodded and tightened the embrace while Jade's hands went to the boy's neck, holding on to it as if it was a life-line.

Then, they suddenly sensed something and looked down.

Beneath them was two statues.

One looked like a humanoid-wolf wearing white armour with blue lines and the other looked like a humanoid dragon using its wings to shield itself.

"What's going on here?" Bandanna-Boy gasped, feeling power flowing through him.

"I don't know." Jade gasped, also feeling the power.

"_Jadedena._"

Jade world her head around, looking for the source of the voice.

"Yubel?" She gasped, recognising the voice of her second mother/father's other half.

"_Yes, now listen closely. You cannot die here, nor will I let you die here. Jadedena, I will offer you my powers, but you must use them wisely. Your parents are still alive and they need you to save them. Do you accept?_"

Jade nodded her head, new found strength filling her.

"I do, Yubel." She murmured.

"_Then, get ready._"

Jade braced herself and suddenly, her D-tector went off.

She pulled it out of her blazer pocket and pointed it at the statue of the half-dragon while Bandanna-Boy pointed his at the statue of the wolf.

"SPIRIT!" They both cried.

Suddenly, the boy's D-tector shot out a white line of light that downloaded the wolf armour while the girl's D-tector shot out a black-inky line of darkness that downloaded the half-dragon.

"**It is time.**" The woman from before said.

"EXACUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!" The duo cried.

Suddenly, Jade felt a pleasant burning sensation as her cloths melted away and she and Bandanna-Boy floated up to the top of the hole, as if the wind was carrying them up towards the top.

When the Data cocoons that held the two individuals split, they had transformed.

The boy now had a white wolf mask, with holes for his crimson red eyes, a light blue scarf with dark blue stripes, white armour on his arms, dark blue pads on his knees, elbows and shoulders, a black belt with white jeans, armoured feet with 3 toes and 2 swords strapped to his hips.

"LOBOMON!" He cried.

But Jade had changed far more dramatically.

Now, she had sickly-pink skin, large black wings, heterochromic eyes, one green the other orange and a third vertically placed eye on her forehead. Jamie's new cloths were weird with one of her legs completely covered in black leather while the other was mostly exposed. Her half her chest was well-developed and covered by a half black sports bra while the revealed side looked like a older man's muscles. Her hair was wild and white on the female side and tamed and purple on the male. She also had blue lips and pointed teeth, resembling those of a vampire.

"YUMON!" She hollered.

While the wolf looked beautiful, the half dragon looked demonic.

Everyone awed at the wolf, almost as if they hadn't noticed the half dragon.

"Wow!" JP cheered, looking at the wolf in awe.

"MAN! Did I look that cool?" Takuya yelled, a smile on his face.

Tommy nodded his head rapidly.

"Yeah! But different!" He cheered, also aweing the wolf.

Zoe sweat.

"Wh-what happened to Jade?" She stammered, fear in her eyes at the sight of the demonic creature the sweet girl had become.

"Yubel?!" Alex gasped, recognising the figure.

The two Digimon ignored the humans as they floated to the ground, Lobomon landing with a growl and showing off some light, while Yumon went with a simple flap of her wings that caused a strong wind to nearly blow everyone away. Literally.

"That's the Legendary Warrior of Light: Lobomon!" Bokomon exclaimed, looking at his book.

"But what happened to Jade?" Alex asked, concern edging in his tone.

Bokomon turned a few pages in his book and stopped on one.

"It can't be!" He gasped in fear.

"What? What is it?" JP asked, looking at the mutant in fear.

"Jade has become The She-Devil itself!" The mutant exclaimed.

"Who is she?" Zoe gasped, almost afraid to know.

"That Demon, The Supreme King's Guardian: Yumon!" Bokomon gasped.

"So? What's the big deal? Who's this 'Supreme King' guy?" JP asked, slight fear in his own eyes.

"He's-" Bokomon was cut off.

"We'll explain later! Right now, focus on the battle!" Alex told them.

Everyone nodded and looked on, fear in their eyes at the sight of Yumon.

"ACID SLUG!" Raremon cried and fired his attack at the duo.

"LOBO KENDO!" Lobomon hollered and pulled out his swords that looked like light-stabbers.

"GUARDIAN WING!" Yumon cried and her left arm changed shape, dramatically.

It looked like a bat wing with mahogany leather, but had brown leather covering bones and it seemed that split the wing into 5 pieces with pale blue areas shaped like a rectangles and a square together. And on her arm, there seemed to be a mouth with a blue gem on top with a yellow Eye of Horus on the gem and an additional mouth with teeth.

The two legendary Digimon charged at the acid spitting creature, Yumon using her wing like a shield and deflecting the acid straight back at Raremon, who cried out in agony as his own attack dissolved him to shreds.

Lobomon jumped in the air and landed on Raremon's head, stabbing him with his sword while Yumon used her wings and came from behind him, swiping him in the back of his neck with her own arm wing.

Purple liquid sprayed from all over Raremon's head as his shape darkened into a silhouette and his Fractal Code appeared.

Yumon looked at Lobomon, with a small smirk on her lips.

"Lobomon, why don't you do the honours, my friend?" She asked, a slight playfulness in her voice.

Lobomon nodded.

Then he turned and glared at the Ghost Digimon.

"Now, you talking trash-heap, prepare to be recycled. FRACTAL CODE: DIGITISE!" He yelled, did some graceful hand movements and downloaded Raremon's Data.

"Multa previseo!" Zoe cheered in Italian.

As Raremon's egg went away, Lobomon and Yumon were covered in Data and turned back into Bandanna-Boy and Jade, on their knees and panting heavily, with Jade's arm and cloths healed, as if they hadn't even been touched by the acid.

Takuya grew concerned for the duo, knowing how much energy fighting a Digimon could be and ran over.

"Jade!" Alex yelled and ran over, Takuya and Tommy in front of him.

"Hey, you okay? Let me help you up." Takuya offered and extended his hand towards the boy, just as Alex arrived.

"Don't touch me!" Bandanna-Boy hissed, glaring at the Goggle-Head.

While Takuya flinched back in confusion and fright, Jade got up on her own two feet and began to walk away.

"I don't need your help! Or anyone else's!" Bandanna-Boy panted, still on his knees and noticed the brunette girl's absence.

After a moment of silence, he lifted his head slightly.

"But I guess I should thank you for saving me. I always repay my debts." The ponytailed Warrior said as he stood up on his feet.

"I didn't do it so you'd owe me, ya know." Takuya told him, grunting a little.

Bandanna-Boy turned and glared slightly at the Goggle-Head.

"For your information, I wasn't talking to you." Bandanna-Boy hissed, icily.

While Takuya dropped his jaw, Jade turned around and faced her fellow fighter, by now she was about a foot away from Takuya and waited patiently for him to walk over to her while Alex stood with the other 2 brunettes.

"My name's Koji Minamoto. And you are?" Bandanna-Boy, Koji, asked the brunette girl.

"Jade **Rosewood**." She panted, hissing her surname like acid and then smiled, stretching out her hand to shake with Koji's.

Koji accepted the invitation and shook hands with the female brunette, noticing how tiered she was, but neither noticed that they hadn't let go.

"You okay?" He asked, looking into her eyes to make sure she didn't lie.

"Just… Worn out." Jade panted, bringing her other hand to her forehead and reluctantly letting go of the raven-bluenette's hand.

Suddenly, she felt her consciousness starting to slip and she fainted.

"Jade!" Koji gasped as the girl started to fall.

"SISSY!" Alex yelled and began to run over.

As Jade continued to fall, Koji was able to catch her back before she hit the ground, probably saving her a few injuries.

Koji put her down on the floor gentle and checked her wrist for a pulse as Alex ran over, falling on his knees once he reached the duo.

"Is my sister alright?!" He panicked, looking at Koji desperate for an answer.

Koji nodded to the blonde.

"She's just tired, she'll be okay after she gets some rest." He reassured the blonde boy.

Alex sighed in relief when an idea popped in his mind.

"But, we can't stay here. It's not safe. What do we do Koji?" He asked, fearing for his sister's health as he looked down at her sleeping face which seemed twisted in pain.

Koji hummed in thought for a moment when he had an idea.

He picked Jade up, bridal style and started walking away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Tommy asked, concerned for Jade's health.

"I'm taking her somewhere safe so she can regain her energy, then I'll meet up with you guys later." Koji replied, looking over his shoulder then faced forward and started walking away.

"What's his deal?" JP asked, running over to the group and putting his hands behind his head.

"Come on guys, let's get outta here. This place smells like dead fish." Zoe suggested, cheerfully as she walked behind then with her hands behind her back.

"You think he likes my sister?" Alex asked his companions.

There was nothing but pure silence.

"I'll take that as a maybe." He suggested and started walking away with the others.

Boy, was Alex thankful that they forgot about the "Supreme King" subject though.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the underground cavern, Koji had placed Jade down by a tree and sat next to her, an arm behind his head with Jade's head on his shoulder and her left hand holding his right hand tightly in her sleep.

"_Wolf-Boy and Dragon-Girl's got some pretty sweet moves, but what's with his attitude? And what's with this 'Supreme King' guy? To find out, keep watching Digimon: Digital Monsters."_


	3. Kyubimon & Kumamon, Light My Fire

**Digimon Frontier-Episode 3: Kumamon, Kyubimon, Light My Fire, Baby!**

"_While Takuya was figuring out how to Spirit Evolve again, he released this code that actually repaired part of the Digital World. JP, unimpressed by the whole experience, snuck away with Tommy and Jade to find a way home. This brilliant plan to bribe the Pagumon with chocolate back-fired in a big way. Koji saved them with some amazing moves, but Raremon was too much for him. Takuya finally managed to Spirit Evolve to Agunimon to fight the Sewer Digimon, but couldn't finish the job. Thank goodness for Koji and Jade. They Spirit Evolved to Lobomon and Yumon and deodorized that creep. But after the battle, Jade collapsed and Koji left the group, taking her with him. Does anyone see going on what I think I see going on?"_

As Koji stood on a small hill, seemingly alone, the wind blew his ponytail over his shoulder while the Poyomon flew in the skies above, drifting away like carefree bubbles.

"The wind of the Digital World smells pretty sweet." He stated, offhandedly.

The raven-head turned his attention to the tree next to him that was supporting Jade's sleeping figure, the brunette girl seeming more at peace then she had been earlier with him.

"You better wake up on your own soon, Jade. I can't afford to keep carrying you around so you can get your rest." He muttered.

Almost as if by magic, Jade began to stir and forced her eyes to open, blinking a few times before the world around her came into proper picture.

"You okay?" Koji asked, softly.

Jade nodded.

"I think I'm alright. I guess that fight and the whole day just whipped me out. I'm sorry for being a burden and thank you for taking care of me. I can't remember the last time some looked after me." She smiled a truly grateful smile, a light pink blush on her face.

Koji shrugged his shoulders.

"It was nothing, not even a slight burden. Compared to you saving my life, that was a breeze. But we can't stay here. We need to keep going." He stated, seriousness in his tone and eyes that gave no room for arguments.

Jade nodded and pushed herself to her feet, wincing slightly when she stepped on her left foot, the one that had been sprained earlier.

"Looks like your ankle isn't completely healed yet." Koji stated, walking over to her.

"Looks like it, huh? But like you said, we can't sit around, we gotta keep moving." Jade noted and began walking on her own in the direction the wind was blowing, limping slightly.

Koji narrowed his eyes and then walked a little faster to catch up with her.

* * *

Meanwhile at the train station, JP, Tommy, Takuya, Alex, Zoe, Bokomon and Neemon were standing on one of the platforms, opposite a Trailmon.

"If you really wanna go home, all you have to do is hop on here." Neemon instructed, pointing at said Digimon.

"It's that easy?" JP asked and then glanced at the train Digimon.

"Neemon! A word please…" Bokomon huffed, grabbing Neemon by his pants and dragging him off somewhere.

"I'm taking that bad boy home! Huh?" JP smiled and turned to the others, grinning as he asked, "How about it guys?"

All he got was Takuya and Zoe in their own thinking possess, Alex smiling like he had a plan and Tommy looking down.

"You don't really wanna stay here, do you?" JP asked, giving the group a puzzled look.

All he got was the silent treatment.

"Fine! You dweebs enjoy your little Digital Freak Show!" JP huffed spitefully and jumped off the platform, calling over his shoulder, "Come on Tommy, let's blow this stupid pop stand."

"Aren't you going with him?" Zoe asked, curiously turning her head to the smaller boy.

"I've decided, I wanna stay here with you." Tommy stated.

This got Takuya and Alex's attention immediately, along with Zoe's slight shock.

"I thought you wanted to go home." Zoe stated.

"I thought we all knew that, Zoe." Alex added.

"Not anymore." Tommy answered, attempting to stand tall.

Takuya took a few steps forward and placed his hand on Tommy's shoulder, as if about to give him a push, saying, "Go with JP, it's dangerous here, Tommy. Besides, the 3rd Grade is a formative year."

"No." Tommy protested, but Takuya kept pushing.

"Go home. Hurry up now." Takuya called, shoving Tommy to the edge.

The cap-wearing boy glanced at them sadly, then turned around and jumped on the tracks, walking over to JP.

"Take care of him, JP." Takuya said.

Alex sighed, but then smiled in reassurance, calling and doing a little dance, "Fear not my friend, for just as seeds climb their way into trees to reach the tops from whence they came, you and I will see each other again."

Everyone sweat-dropped at that, all of them thinking, "_Is he serious?_"

"So, are you leaving, Alex?" Zoe asked the slightly younger boy.

He shook his head no in great defiance, stating, "As long as my dearest sister is in this treacherous place, she will need someone to protect her and that person will be me."

"So, I guess, we can't get rid of you, can we?" Takuya asked, sighing.

"Nope." Alex stated, smirking.

The duo sighed and then, Takuya turned to Zoe, asking slightly rudely, "How about you, huh?"

"I have a name." Zoe huffed, hands on her hips as she leaned towards Takuya.

"Okay, Zoe, are ya leaving?" Takuya asked, annoyance in his tone.

"Why? Would you miss me?" The blonde female teased, turning away from him by 90 degrees and standing tall.

"I won't be responsible for your safety, ya know." The brunette huffed, pointing at her.

"Good one, Romeo, I'll be fine." She huffed, folding her arms and turning away from him.

"This auto be fun." He said, sarcastically, as he turned from her.

Alex sighed at the arguing duo, saying, "Ahhh, young love."

"SHUT UP! WE'RE NOT IN LOVE!" Takuya and Zoe screamed at him.

Alex just smiled and giggled, saying, "Fine, when you're ready to admit your feelings for each other, you can but that won't stop me from saying they're there until then."

The Trailmon blew his whistle and drove away, drowning out anything Takuya or Zoe might have said to him.

"Arverdenchi!" Neemon called in a horrible pronunciation.

"Nice pronunciation." Takuya, Zoe and Alex commented, sarcastically.

"Thank you." The rabbit Digimon chimed.

The humans sighed and turned away from each other, glancing in all directions.

Hearing footsteps, they turned around again only to get a shock.

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" Takuya exclaimed in annoyance.

"To be honest, I have absolutely no idea." JP explained, sheepishly rubbing his head as he walked over to them.

"Me either." Tommy chuckled, sheepishly rubbing his cheek.

"Well, I'm not gonna be responsible for your safety, you're on your own." Zoe huffed.

Bokomon and Neemon turned to each other and smiled, Alex grinning like he had a plan.

Takuya, realizing something, turned to Zoe and said, "Wait a minute, are you mocking me?! You are aren't you! Man, you try to be nice to a girl-"

* * *

A couple hours later, at sunset, we find our heroes walking along the Trailmon Tracts, out of Flame Terminal and into the unknown.

Leading the pack was Zoe, behind her was Tommy, next it was JP, after him we have Alex, second to last was Takuya and as a caboose were Bokomon and Neemon.

As the gang walked along, all was silent, until Bokomon took one big jump so he was at Takuya's side and spoke in an urgent tone, stating, "I hope you're planning on helping us Mr. Takuya."

Takuya gave him an uncaring and annoyed side glance.

"You carry with you the Spirit of Agunimon, one of the 10 Legendary Warriors. You can defeat, the Digimon, turned evil by, Cherubimon." Bokomon explained, calmly, but then he started freaking out, "Only you have the power to save us! You must help us repair parts of the Digital World that have been destroyed!"

"I think you need to calm down, buddy." Takuya stated, turning his gaze forward once more.

"My name's Bokomon and I'm not your **buddy**, I don't think you understand the severity of the situation here!" Bokomon huffed, still dancing and freaking out.

Zoe and JP gave the Keeper of The Book an annoyed glance, making him say, sincerely, "Sorry, didn't mean to yell," Tommy and Alex turned and gave the mutant a concerned look, "but we need the Data from the Fractal Code, it's the only way to rebuild the Digital World."

The little mutant got on his knees, tears in his eyes and hands held in a praying manner.

"Please, help us get the Fractal Code back, save our world before it's too late, will you?" Bokomon begged, bowing his head with the deepest of pleas.

When Takuya didn't react to it what so ever, Bokomon turned to his fellow Digital being, dancing around and yelling, angrily, "Neemon don't just stand there like a cheap TV antenna, I need your help, say something!"

"Some-thing." Neemon said, dumbly.

"Are you really that dense or do you just do that to annoy me?!" Bokomon exclaimed, angrily and pulled on Neemon's pants, making a painful "AHHH" echo around the area once he let go.

Suddenly, the D-Tectors beeped and buzzled, making everyone reach into their pockets to pull them out while Alex peered over Tommy's shoulder since he didn't have one.

"**Attention! You must go to the Forest Terminal, immediately!**" The woman ordered.

"What's a Forest Terminal?" Takuya asked.

"What is a Forest Terminal?" Zoe, JP and Tommy echoed.

Bokomon stopped abusing Neemon when he heard the name.

"I'm guessing it's a Terminal in a Forest." Alex stated, thoughtfully.

"How am I supposed to find it?" Takuya asked, holding his D-tector closer to his mouth like you would a radio.

But the symbol disappeared without answering, making Takuya a bit frantic and he started pressing random buttons, calling, "Hey! Hey answer me!"

"The Forest Terminal is a Station located deep within the realm of the Forest Kingdom." Bokomon read from his book and glanced at the tracks ahead, "We just follow the tracks, they'll take us right to it."

"How far do we have to follow them?" Neemon asked, merrily.

"Well, let's see. It says… It says…" Bokomon trailed off, looking at the book carefully.

The gang glanced at him.

"All the way!" Bokomon grunted, angry at his lack of knowledge.

Neemon gasped in shock.

Zoe, Tommy, JP and Alex gave him a cross between a surprised and a disbelieving look.

Takuya sighed and turned around, seeing the tracks head into the horizon.

"You're full of useless information, aren't you?" He asked, rhetorically.

With that, the gang continued on, changing their positions as they went and being mostly silent as they walked. The order they were in the next time someone spoke was Zoe at the front, Takuya behind her, JP behind him, Tommy next to him on the tracks, Alex skipping behind JP and the Digimon a little bit behind them. Speaking of…

Neemon stopped walking and turned around, glancing back the way they came.

Noticing his friend's halt, Bokomon stopped and turned to him, asking softly, "Neemon, is there something wrong?"

"I guess I'm a little homesick." The rabbit confessed, glancing at Flame Terminal, sadly.

"Then just go back, Big Baby!" The mutant huffed, not caring if he hurt the rabbit's feelings.

Neemon glanced from Bokomon and then to his village, going back and forth a few times, repeatedly asking, "Should I stay? Should I go?"

"Oh, come on you wishy-woshy pain in the pants," Bokomon groaned, grabbing the rabbit by his pants and pulling him along, "if you get too whiny, I'll just mail you back!"

Meanwhile with the humans, Takuya decided to ask a proper question.

"What made you change your mind about going home?" He asked JP, who glanced at him.

The heavy-set male smiled and scratched his blushing check as he looked at Zoe, answering, "Well, I really didn't have much going on back there anyway and I thought it might be kinda fun to hang with you guys and get to know ya a little better."

"Ha! Get to know Zoe you mean!" Alex snorted, barging in on the conversation. Literally.

"Hey, that is not what I meant!" JP argued, his checks turning a dusty red shade.

"Then why're ya'all red, buddy?" Takuya teased, pointing at the other brunette's face.

"It's hot out and I'm sunburned!" JP argued, going on to ask, "What grade are you guys in anyway?"

"6th, is that a problem?" The goggle-head relented, standing with an innocent look on his face.

"I actually don't go to school, so I don't know. Jade home-schooled me!" The blonde male answered, shrugging.

A cross between a surprised and a disbelieving expression appeared on JP's face, before a slight glare returned and he pointed at himself, stating proudly, "Well, I'm in 7th grade!"

"Like I'm supposed to care." Takuya sighed, a neutral look passing his face as he placed his hands behind his head.

"Like I care if you care! I should've bolted from this Digital Dump when I had the chance." JP huffed, walking away with a slight stomp in his step.

"He so likes her. It looks like you may have some competition, Takuya my friend." Alex stated, teasingly, "But fear not, for you see, I am the nephew of the Master of Love and my dear, old, uncle taught me well."

"Shut up and go hang out with someone else." Takuya huffed, his face turning a slight scarlet shade.

Alex's face changed from teasing to slightly hurt, but then it hardened into a glare.

"Fine, I will!" He stated and walked away, pretending to be angry in order to hide the pain.

Up ahead, Alex was soon to be not the only blonde who had spoken.

"Tommy, why didn't you go home?" Zoe asked the 3rd Grader, softly.

Tommy continued walking along the tracks for a moment, but then stopped and jumped off them in front of Zoe, answering, "I decided I wanna be like Takuya and Jade."

"What?" Zoe asked in slight confusion, Alex coming to her side.

"To become a Digimon so I won't be scared all the time." Tommy explained, his emerald eyes showing determination.

Zoe gave him a sound smile, but then turned to the sky, asking, "What about your Mom and Dad waiting at home? I bet they're worried."

"So are your siblings, if you have any." Alex added, joining in on the conversation.

Tommy gasped for a moment, probably not thinking of that, but then turned his head away so his cap would hide his eyes.

"I miss my parents and my big brother Yutaka, but when I come back I won't be afraid anymore, so they'll forgive me for being gone." He said, sadness and hope in his voice.

After a moment of silence, Tommy ran ahead of the blondes, leaving them with their thoughts.

"_For such a little kid, he sure has big problems._" Zoe thought, a frown glittering her lips.

"_That kid is a lot like Tyson. Too much like Tyson, actually._" Alex thought as a face entered his mind.

_One of them had a bush baby-blue hair he inherited from his father, sky-blue eyes that same from his mother and light skin. This friend was a boy._

"I really miss you, Ty." Alex muttered, before presuming his walking, staying close to Zoe for the rest of the way.

* * *

By the time night finally came around, 3 different colored moons lighting up the dark sky (blue, red and yellow), the gang had come to a broken bridge, no way across.

Bokomon walked along what was left of the bridge, moaning, "Well, this is a fine mess."

"So what now?" Zoe asked, turned to Takuya.

JP took a step forward, pointing down the gorge, stating, "Check it out, guys that trail leads to the bottom!"

The group glanced down, seeing that JP was right about a trail and where it lead, but he failed to point out that-

"Looks like a village down there, maybe they could help us." Takuya stated, seeing the gentle glow of fire lights.

"Let's go!" Alex called, jumping down the trail and running ahead of the gang.

Soon, JP, Takuya, Tommy and Zoe joined him, Bokomon tugging Neemon along by his pants.

When they finally got to the bottom, the lights disappeared, leaving the gang in darkness as they hopped across a small river, using stones as a path.

"That's weird, I could have sworn those lights were coming from right here." JP stated, glancing around.

"Huh, looked like that to me." Zoe agreed, turning her head around.

"Maybe those 3 weird moons are playing with our minds?" Alex suggested, looking in the other blonde's direction.

"Umm, Takuya?" Tommy called, fearfully as he tugged on the older boy's arm.

The group turned to look at what the 3rd Grader was staring at and gasped, Alex feeling an over-whelming sickness take hold of him at the sight.

On the cliff face, carved in the rocks, was the image of a young angel, probably no older then 10, with 8 wings on his back and markings on his body. Near the carving of the angel, were 10 symbols carved into the rocks.

"What is that?" Takuya asked, staring in awe at the angel.

"Kinda pretty." Zoe stated, looking at the odd markings on the walls.

"Pretty? 'Pretty' she says." Bokomon groaned, looking in his book, "These are the marks of the 10 Legendary Warriors."

"The 10 Legendary Warriors?" The gang repeated in confusion.

"I've never heard of them." Neemon mused, carefree.

"Are you serious? The Legend of the 10 Warriors was the first thing we learned in Digital World History." Bokomon huffed, glaring at his companion.

"I must have been sick that day but they sure are pretty." The rabbit suggested, merrily.

The mutant groaned and hid his face in the book.

"In ancient times, there were terrible wars between humanoid Digimon and beast Digimon for control of the Digital World. One day, an angel Digimon named Lucemon appeared. He taught them how to resolve their differences and live in peace and the fighting stopped. Lucemon was a wise, kind ruler but the peace in the Digital World was short lived." Bokomon told them.

"Why was that?" Alex asked, curiously.

"It was short lived because the Digital World was invaded by creatures from another realm that called themselves Warriors of the Dark World Army." Bokomon answered.

Everyone gasped.

"This Dark World Army ruthlessly attacked Lucemon and destroyed him, the ruler of the Army taking his place. The ruler of the Dark World Army called himself the Supreme King and thought the name of his right hand man was never discovered, the ancient Digimon called her Yumon." The mutant stated.

Takuya halted him, asking in shock horror, "Wait! You mean, the Digimon that Jade turns into is-"

"Yes. The very same monster that was partnered to the Supreme King." Bokomon said, gravely.

"But how? How could someone as nice as Jade turn into something that served someone as mean as this 'Supreme King' guy?" Tommy asked in shock, not understanding why.

"I don't know." Bokomon sighed, sadly, biting his beak.

Bokomon continued, "The Supreme King unleashed the Dark World Army on the Digital World while Yumon captured powerful Digimon and turned them into her slaves, taking over their minds and making them a part of her Zombie Empire. The two tormented the peace loving Digimon until they could take no more. It was then that 10 brave Warriors rose up against them, led by a human girl, and after a fierce battle, the Supreme King and Yumon were sent back to the world they came from, restoring the peace."

"That's a relief." Tommy whispered.

"But the legend doesn't stop there. The Supreme King refused to leave empty handed and took with him the human who led the attack and despite the best efforts of the 10 Warriors, she was never heard from again. It was one of the Digital Worlds' longest and greatest times of depression that everyone felt for over 10 years." Bokomon finished.

"Everyone was depressed for 10 whole years just because this one girl was taken?" JP asked, looking at the Keeper of the Book in shock.

"Indeed. Though not much is known about this girl, it is said that she was very beautiful with a friendly and welcoming aura that held a touch of innocence within it that hid a powerful and self-confident side of her that only ever came out on the battlefield. She was going to become the Queen of the Digital World once the Supreme King was gone. It is said that many Warrior Digimon begged her in their dying breaths to defeat the Supreme King and take his place when he was defeated. It was a tragedy for everyone to lose another kind ruler who wasn't afraid to fight for the world they loved." Bokomon explained, sighing sadly.

Alex peered over Bokomon's shoulder, saying, "According to your book, the Legend says that one day the Spirits of the Warriors will rise again in times of trouble. And with this 'Cherubimon' guy around, it's no surprise Agunimon and Lobomon have appeared again."

"But, what is Yumon doing here if it's the Warriors who are supposed to be the heroes?" Tommy asked.

"I don't know, Tommy." Bokomon sighed, folding his book closed.

"Read it to me again." Neemon said, grinning stupidly.

"Ummm, no." Bokomon said and hid the book in his waist belt.

"I know that symbol." Tommy stated and pointed at one of the marks on the wall.

The mark he pointed at looked like an upside down 'Y' with lines on either side of it.

"It's the same one we saw when Takuya Spirit Evolved into Agunimon." Zoe remembered.

"It was on his belt, right?" Alex asked, receiving a nod from the other blonde.

"And that mark next to it was on Koji's shoulder when he turned into Lobomon." Tommy added, pointing at another mark.

That one looked like an upside down "T" with 2 curvy lines running through it.

"I wonder if I'll be next, oh, I hope my Digimon's cute!" Zoe gushed.

"I'm gonna be like the biggest, scariest Digimon ever!" Tommy declared, happily.

"Not likely, shorty, I mean there's no way we'll all get to be Digimon." JP huffed, taking out a pen and notepad from his pocket.

"Yeah, because I have a **D-3** and you guys have **D-tectors**." Alex cut in, glaring at JP slightly.

JP ignored him and started drawing the marks in the pad while Takuya turned around.

"We've got, company." He gulped, making the rest of the group turn around.

Right behind them was a small army of Digimon who looked like candles with faces and arms. They all had red eyes and jack-o-lantern smiles that they shared with the flames on top of their heads, who's eyes were blue.

The gang was absolutely surrounded by them, so Alex decided to find out some information about the Digimon before they had the chance to attack them.

"Candlemon. He's a Fire Type Digimon, Rockie level and his attacks include: Lava Loogie and Paraffin Paralyzer. Their weakness is the flame on top of their heads, since if it goes out, the Candlemon die with it." Alex read from his D-3 while a 3D hologram of the Fire Digimon appeared on his screen.

3 Candlemon, one with a mustache, stopped forward, demanding, "Why have you humans come to our village? You're not welcome here!"

"We're on our way to the Forest Terminal." Takuya answered, taking a step forward and spreading his arms out, "Sorry to disturb you, we're just passing through."

"You're melting my heart." Mustache said, sarcastically.

"Oh, that's a no-no!" The other Candlemon giggled.

"You mean to steal the ancient artifact from us, don't you? Well you won't get away with it!" Mustache growled, protectively.

"He's right, the humans must be punished." The Candlemon on his right said.

"Hey boss, you want us to wax 'em for ya?" The Candlemon on his left asked.

"Wait! Stop! Let me explain." Bokomon cut in before someone could get hurt, "These humans have come, to help us save the Digital World, not steal some artifact!"

"But we didn't know that at first." Takuya added.

"Not helping, dude." Alex commented.

"This may be hard to believe," Bokomon pointed at Takuya for this one, "but somehow this boy was infused with the spirit of one of the 10 Legendary Warriors: Agunimon."

"Did you say Agunimon? That's impossible!" Mustache huffed.

Murmuring broke out among the Candlemon.

"That's a hot one."

"What if it really is him?"

"He's pulling our wicks."

"I don't know, boys, I sense a fire in the boy's soul."

Instantly all the murmuring stopped with that sentence, it being replaced with gasps and everyone turned their attention to the Digimon who had spoken.

And Alex had to admit, she was stunning.

The Digimon everyone was now looking at was about as tall as the average teenage human and walked on her hind legs. Her fur was a stunning yellow with white on her feet, chest, tail-tip, ear-tips and paws and purple marking on her knees that resembled the Ying&amp;Yang symbol. She wore purple gantlets on her hands that reached her elbows, each holding the Ying&amp;Yang symbol.

But what captivated Alex most about the Digimon were her eyes.

They were a stunning crystal blue color, clear as the sky on a cloudless day. Under her eyes were purple zig-zag markings while where it would normally be white in her eyes, it was black giving them a dangerous look, but to Alex, that just emphasized the color of her eyes and made them look even more beautiful.

Really, Alex knew he inherited his weird taste in women from his dad, but he never thought he'd think a fox was hot as Hell. Jade would never stop teasing him for this if she found out.

Murmuring broke out again.

"Well if Renamon thinks so, it has to be true!"

"How would she even know if the boy is the Legendary Warrior Agunimon?! She only just met him!"

"Come on, you and I both know how good Renamon is with first impressions. If she thinks the boy is Agunimon then I believe her."

"This is absolute garbage!"

"Let's give them a test!"

Mustachio narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Well, isn't this interesting."

"Renamon, come here!" He called.

The fox nodded, "Yes, Grandfather." And trotted over to him.

When the beauty pasted by the group of humans, since she was on their side of the river, she gave Alex a quick glance.

He felt like his face would explode from the heat that was gathering there, but he didn't dare turn away or not look her in the eyes because it would be a sign of weakness and he honestly felt like he was getting lost in them.

That crystal blue color just drew him in and made him a little bit crazy.

Renamon, as the Candlemon called her, gave him a small smile, then turned away, braking their locked gazes.

She elegantly jumped along the rocks, did a mid-air cartwheel on her last jump and landed perfectly on her feet, kneeling down and making conversation with Mustache and his 2 friends.

"Bokomon, who is that?" Alex asked, a love-struck smile grabbing his face.

"Oh, um, well, let me see." Bokomon said and started flicking through the pages in his book.

The gang turned their attention to the little Mutant Digimon as well.

"Ah, here we are. Her name is Renamon, she is a very powerful but dangerous Digimon, it is sometimes wondered if she is actually on the Rookie level. Her attacks include: Diamond Storm, Power Paw and Kohenkyo, which is when she uses a transformation art to copy the opponent's appearance and re-cover herself in that texture. I'm afraid that's all the information my book has on her, though." Bokomon read.

Honestly, Alex had never seen anyone more graceful and elegant in his life and he doubted he ever would again, he just had to wonder…

"_It doesn't add that she's gorgeous in every meaning of the word?_"

"No, it doesn't."

"HUH?! Are you a mind reader?!" Alex demanded and turned to stare at Neemon since he had spoken.

"No, you just said your thoughts out-loud." Zoe sighed.

Upon that realization, Alex slapped a hand over his mouth, a bright red blush spreading along his entire face while Takuya, JP, Bokomon and Tommy snickered slightly while Zoe sighed and Neemon stood there, absolutely clueless.

Thankfully, Alex was saved from anymore embarrassment by Mustache and his friends turning around, the grandfather giving a hardy laugh, "Please forgive our rude behavior my dear young friend."

Mustache and Renamon, who appeared to have been staring at Alex once she heard his comment about her, crossed the river, a small and friendly yet playful smile glittering the fox's lips while the candle had a hardy and friendly laugh coming from his mouth.

"We are the Candlemon tribe, it is our sacred duty to protect the ancient artifact and this is my adopted granddaughter, Renamon." Mustache introduced himself, his tribe and granddaughter.

"It is an honor to be in the presence of the Legendary Warriors." Renamon stated and bowed to the humans and their friends.

"Oh, you don't need to bow to us, Miss Renamon, we're just your everyday kind of kid on the block." Alex said, sheepishly shaking his hands in front of him with a bright red face.

As instructed, Renamon stood.

"So which of you inherited the Spirit of the Legendary Warrior?" Mustache asked, pleasantly.

"It was this one: Takuya." Bokomon stated, pointing at Takuya.

Said boy whimpered like a frightened puppy, making Alex internally grimes.

"Ahhh," Mustache said, coming a bit closer to Takuya, "well you certainly have a brave face, young man." He turned to his left, "On behalf of all the Candlemon tribe," He turned to his right, "I bid you all welcome. Please, be our guests."

With a hardy laugh, Mustache and Renamon began walking (or floating) away.

"Did anyone else suddenly have an urge to start singing 'Be our guest' from Disney's Beauty and the Beast?" Alex asked, subconsciously.

The gang all looked at him weirdly, making Alex flinch from their gaze and turn his head to the ground.

"Come along now, don't dawdle." Candlemon called.

Renamon stopped and turned around, giving a warning joke, "It would be wise not to keep the rest of the tribe waiting, they're all a bunch of hot-heads after all." before turning back around and running to catch up with her grandfather.

The gang shrugged and started running to catch up with the others, Alex going fast partly because he didn't feel all that comfortable around the gang after his comment and partly because he was hoping to talk to Renamon.

When he did catch up to her, he decided to just stay silent and catch his breath for a bit.

Once he had it, Alex began analyzing his situation.

"_Okay, so, I caught up to her and she's not trying to walk away from me, which is a good sigh so far. Should I say something, thought? Whatever I say will probably be something stupid, like my earlier comment. But oh well, Dad somehow got Mom and 2 other girls to like him, one of which was half dragon, so if he can do that, it shouldn't be too hard to get a fox to like me._" He told himself.

With those thoughts in mind, the blonde cleared his throat, gaining the fox's attention.

"Is there something you wanted to ask me?" Renamon asked in a solemnly calm voice that just washed over Alex.

"Umm, yeah, umm my name's Alex and I was wondering… Oh, how do I put this?" Alex started muttering under his breath, making Renamon turn to look at him, before he sighed and turned towards her, asking, "Do you… mind if I ask some questions to get to know you a little better? I kinda wanna be friends."

Renamon nodded, saying, "You may ask me any question you like, but I can't promise to always answer them."

Alex nodded, agreeing, "Fair enough. And if you want to ask me any questions, you can to."

"Let's begin then." She nodded.

"Okay, so ummm, what's your favorite color and why?" Alex asked.

"Dark blue because it's the color of the night sky above these canyon walls."

"Cool. Do you want to know what my favorite color is?"

"It would be nice to have that knowledge."

"My favorite color is crystal blue, just like my Mom's, because I just really like bright colors and my second favorite color is yellow because it's usually the color of the center of a flower."

"May I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Which is your favorite kind of flower?"

"My favorite kind of flower is one from the Human World called Black-Eyed Susan because of it's black center. It has yellow, thin petals, one of the things I like about it and it means 'Encouragement'."

"Do all flowers in your world have special meanings?"

"Yeah. My Ante on my Mom's side owns a flower shop and I help out there a lot so I had to learn the meanings and names of pretty much every flower known to man."

"Does anyone else in your family work?"

"I think my Mom was a teacher, Dad was travelling all around the world, trying to connect Spirits and Humans before he became a police officer in the Spirit Issues department, my Uncle on my Mom's side worked in a Host club, grandparents on my mother's side were aristocrats before they died and grandparents on my father's side were also big business people, until they retired because of old age."

"That's certainly a verity of work places."

"Yup. I'm thinking of picking up the books and becoming a teacher at home like my Mom while Jade is more into travelling and justice, so she's thinking of just hitting the road as soon as she's old enough and going wherever the wind will take her."

"It sounds to me like your sister is a very adventurous person."

"She is. Jade hates being indoors, no matter what the weather is, though she isn't as found of snow as she is all the other weathers. Her favorite is a cross between the rain and the sun because it makes miracles."

"Miracles? How?"

"Well, Jade believes that rainbows are miracles because her old friend John believed it. He had a bit of a fetish with rainbows, one that he got from his Dad and he'd always say 'If you can make a Rainbow of Faith, a Miracle will happen.' it was practically his catch phrase. I'm not surprised she's actually in love with him, John's a good guy and Jade deserves someone who might love her more than even I do."

* * *

Back with Jade, she suddenly sneezed.

"Do you have a cold?" Koji asked, turning to the brunette.

"I don't think so, someone is probably talking about me." She smiled reassuringly.

"If you do have a cold, you don't have to worry about it. We could rest and recover for a bit and if it gets worst, I could always carry you."

"Oh, there's no need for that, Koji, I probably weigh a tone."

"Actually, you're lighter than a feather. Do you eat properly or do you have a medical condition?"

"It's neither, I promise!"

"How come I can see your ribs?"

"Why are you even looking there? Why are you so eager to help me?"

"For one thing, you saved my life and for another thing, I consider you a friend."

"So soon? I doubt you warm up to people that fast. Could you just have the tiniest bit of a crush on me, or is it just pity that's making you act this way towards me? And don't give me crap about that being how you treat everyone, I was there when you hissed at Takuya like an angry wild cat when he offered to help you."

Realizing he wouldn't win the argument, Koji shut his mouth at that point.

* * *

"What's your favorite kind of weather?" Renamon asked.

"Me? Well, I like all of them, but I really like those days when the wind is blowing so hard, you feel like it'll pick you up and wisp you away with it. That's my favorite kind of weather because it gives me the rare chance to fly a kite. What's your least favorite kind of weather?" Alex questioned.

"Personally, I dislike it most when it's sunny because the canyon walls and flour end up scorching hot and even the Candlemon burn themselves on the ground. Speaking of the Candlemon…"

Renamon pointed ahead and Alex turned to see about 11 Candlemon dancing around a candle with the markings of the Legendary Warriors, all of them holding 4-leaved clovers in their hands while the other members of the Candlemon tribe sang some ancient song that had no words to it, well, none that Alex could understand or hear at least.

"It looks like a giant birthday party." Takuya commented with Tommy, JP and Zoe behind him in that order.

"It's for you, my friends, a Welcome Ceremony, enjoy!" Mustache cheered, gesturing to the fire going on around the giant candle.

As the Candlemon continued to dance, Alex couldn't help but suddenly feel sick, like something bad was about to happen.

"Come closer, feel the warmth of the flame." Mustache encouraged, gesturing to the fire as the kids, Renamon, Bokomon and Neemon got a bit closer.

Suddenly, the dancing Candlemon threw the clovers into the fire, making Takuya, Zoe and JP flinch back in surprise and when the clovers started burning, a horrible green mist flooded the area, that the Candlemon started fanning at them.

At first, Alex just thought it was all part of the ceremony, until he heard Renamon gasp.

"Renamon, what's wrong?" Alex asked in soft concern.

Renamon ignored, taking a protective step in front of him and hissing, "You fools! Are you insane?! They are our guests, what in the name of Ophanimon made you use those things?!"

"What? What are they, Renamon?" Alex asked softly, slight worry in his tone.

Bokomon ended up giving him his answer.

"Ugh, look at this, it's Sleeping Clover." The mutant grunted.

"It's nappy time anyway." The rabbit mumbled before he and his friend fell asleep.

Alex gasped and quickly placed his scarf over his mouth and nose, hoping it would stop him from falling asleep.

As the Candlemon continued their fanning, Renamon growled as the humans started feeling the effects of the Clovers.

"I can't keep my eyes open." Zoe moaned, on her hands and knees with her eye lids slowly dropping shut.

"Yeah." JP agreed tiredly, on his knees and elbows.

"Night." Tommy whispered, falling on his back with an arm over his chest.

Soon, JP and Zoe joined him on the ground, Takuya just barley on his knees and hands while Alex was fretting about Renamon, who was also coming to feel the effects of the Clovers.

"So you've claimed the Spirit of Agunimon, have you?"

Alex turned and glared at Mustache, who he couldn't believe was letting this happen to his own granddaughter.

"HA! We'll shed some light on this!" Mustache huffed, angrily adding, "Let's turn up the heat on these artifact filatures! Get them, Candlemon!"

"But sir, what about Renamon?" A Candlemon asked.

"Leave my granddaughter be. If she intervenes, destroy her." Mustache ordered.

Renamon and Alex gasped in shock horror.

The Candlemon tribe cheered in agreement.

The blonde growled low in his throat, his eyes flashing with a tainted red, "Over my cold, dead, lifeless body!" he hissed, before his eyes returned to their normal caramel color when Renamon began coughing.

"Renamon!" He called in worry and knelled in front of her.

"The Clovers," she coughed, "don't have dangerous toxins, but" she coughed, "I have a horrible intolerance for them. It's like an allergy, except" she coughed, "not as bad." The fox explained though her consistent coughs.

Meanwhile with the others, Takuya was shaking Tommy awake while Zoe and JP tried to hold themselves up.

"Hey, we can't stay here. Come on." Takuya called, shaking the small boy.

He glanced over at Alex, who stared back at him and then the boys had the same idea.

"The river…" They muttered.

The Candlemon lined up, ready to attack.

"Hang on, Ren." Alex muttered, picking the fox Digimon up bridal-style.

The blonde started heading for the river, quickly joining up with the rest of the gang.

"**LAVA LOOGIE!**" The Digimon cried, spitting fire from their mouths.

"Dive in!" Takuya yelled, making a bean-line for the river with the others.

The gang and Renamon jumped in just in time, since the flames ended up attacking nothing but water.

Once in the fast running water, that brought them all back to their full consciousness, Tommy regained the ability to panic.

"_I don't know how to swim!_" The boy thought in slight distress.

Sure, he had taken swim classes in school, but thanks to some bullies (the same ones that Jade scared off) he was too scared to leave the changing rooms after they once tried to drown him.

Tommy accidentally let out the breath he was holding and then he really started to freak.

Was he going to drown again? Would he die this time? What would happen to the Digital World and his new friends? What about Jade and Koji? What if-

Tommy's unanswered questions were interrupted by arms wrapping around his waist and haling him above the water, letting him breathe again as his savior yelled, "That was a great idea."

Tommy quickly recognized the sarcastic voice as Takuya's.

Soon, the rest of the gang, with Renamon's arm on Alex's shoulder, broke the water.

"I'll never complain about my alarm clock again!" Zoe cried.

"Yeah, nice way to wake up, did we really need to jump into the river?!" JP groaned.

"Takuya said we had to said we had to dive in or we were gonna burn up." Tommy replied with child-like innocence.

"Oh yeah?" JP challenged, sarcastically.

"Oh, did I disturb your beauty sleep?" Takuya growled, sarcastically.

"Renamon, are you okay?" Alex whispered near the fox's ear, softly as he could.

Renamon coughed on the water, but managed a small smile, saying, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"We'll be safe as long as we stay here, I bet Fire Digimon like Candlemon can't get near the water." Zoe theorized.

"Guess again, human!"

The gang gasped as 2 more Candlemon came hopping over to them, calling out "**LAVA LOOGIE!**"

"Go under!" Takuya ordered.

Everyone hit the water just in time before the attack could hurt any of them.

The gang and Renamon swam under the water, the fox now having the strength to make it on her own, though Alex didn't let go of her hand-paw.

"Find them! Don't let them get away!" Mustache ordered.

* * *

A little while later, the gang broke the surface and hid in a large hole in the canyon wall, ducking under the water whenever Candlemon neared them. Speaking of the hot-heads…

"We'd they go?"

"I don't know, they just disappeared."

"Well they gotta come up some time-"

"And when they do, we'll-"

Everyone decided to stop listening by then, turning their heads towards Takuya, who said, "I'll distract them, then on my signal, you guys make a break for it."

"Some plan." Zoe groaned, sarcastically.

"At least it is a plan." Alex cut in.

"Hey, hold on Mr. President and Mr. Vice-President, I don't remember ever electing you guys the leaders of this stupid club." JP butted in, tuning to Zoe, asking, "Right?"

Zoe turned to him, stating, "Yeah that's right," and turning back to Takuya, "and any decisions we make, we make as a team. Okay?"

"Okay, Zoe." Alex nodded.

He was ignored.

"I really wanna help, but I'm too slow, you guys should just go on without me." Tommy added, hanging onto the rocky walls.

Renamon looked at the small human boy as if he was crazy.

How could the child be willing to leave himself to the hands of death when he doesn't have to?! Life was a very valuable gift, especially for humans since they don't get reborn like Digimon did. How…

"How can you be so prepared to die?" The fox asked.

The group turned their attention to the Digimon who had joined them, a look in her eyes saying 'I'm trying to figure this out'.

"How can you be so ready to just give up and stay behind, boy? Life is a precious gift, one that you humans should treasure more than I do. Why are you so ready to die?" The yellow fox demanded.

Tommy stiffened up somewhat, a slight fear in his eyes.

"Hey, Rena, lay off him, please. Tommy isn't really ready to die, he's just saying that because he doesn't wanna burden us." Alex stated, hoping to calm her somewhat.

"Alex, I believe the boy can speak for himself." Renamon interrupted, stretching out a paw to silence him, "Now, I'll repeat my question, boy; Why are you so ready to die?"

All eyes turned on Tommy, who shifted under the fox's gaze.

"Well, ya see, it's not like anyone back home would care." He murmured, so quietly almost no one could hear him.

"What about your parents?" Zoe asked.

"Or your older brother, Yutaka, that you mentioned?" Alex added.

"Yutaka hates me. And I'm nothing but a cry baby, a little kid who's always in the way and I don't wanna be like that here, so, that's why I told you guys to leave me." The boy with pale-emerald eyes confessed, a whimper in his voice.

The group gasped softly before Takuya decided to do something.

He brought Tommy into a little hug, surprising the entire gang slightly.

"Tommy, you're not a cry baby, I saw you with Koji, Jade and Raremon. Were you crying then?" The Goggle-Head asked.

"N-No." Tommy answered.

"Were you crying when the Candlemon attacked us?"

"No."

"Then what makes you think you're a cry baby, huh? Anyone who really is a cry baby would be balling their eyes out during those times, but you didn't. So tell me; What makes you think you're a cry baby?"

"…I'm bullied a lot and called that all the time by the guys who do it. They beat me up and whenever I cry because it hurts, they call me a cry baby."

Everyone gasped, some people growing angry while others showed sympathy.

"Tommy." Alex called.

The boy with the big hat turned his head towards the blonde, thought he didn't try to get out of the hug that Takuya was still giving him.

"Ignore those guys, they're just jealous because deep down, they know you're stronger than them and when people know something is stronger or better than them, they fear it. They try to break it up, take it down or get rid of it, they're like that with humans, objects and animals, but you have to know one thing is true, Tommy." The blonde said.

Tommy gasped softly.

"People don't cry because they're weak, it's because they've been strong for so long." Renamon stated.

"Hey, you stole my line." Alex grumbled.

"So what if I did?"

"You're a Meany, Renamon."

"I try."

Everyone chuckled softly at the banter between the fox and his new friend.

After smiling at the two for a second longer, Takuya turned back to the little boy who was still in his arms and said, "See? What Renamon said is true, Tommy and you know that leaving you behind is not an option. If I Spirit Evolve into Agunimon, I can snuff out the Candlemon."

Quickly, thought, the slightly more cheerful atmosphere seemed to be lost as they went back to planning their escape.

"Right, Spirit Boy," JP huffed, "better read your Digimon Instruction Manual before you try something dumb like that again."

"He's right, you shouldn't try to fight alone, you're not very good at it yet." Zoe agreed.

"Did anyone forget that I'm here?" Renamon questioned, growling softly when she was ignored.

Honestly, why did they sometimes ignore her or Alex when they said things? It annoyed and slightly frustrated her to no end. She'd never understand humans, Renamon just wouldn't.

"Here they come! Duck!"

Taking a deep breath, everyone followed JP's instructions and hid under the water, just as the Candlemon walked past them.

When they surfaced again, Takuya pulled his Goggles over his eyes, muttering, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Just get Tommy out of here, okay?" He instructed and left the group, swimming against the current to get to land and where the Candlemon were.

"Renamon, are you really going to help him?" Alex asked, softly.

The fox nodded and in a flash, she disappeared and reappeared on the land with Takuya holding one of her paws, a very confused look on his face.

"Okay, let's move." JP said.

The gang nodded and began climbing the rocks. As they did this, Tommy couldn't help but wonder.

Why? Why did Renamon care so much about how he felt? Why did any of these guys care? He didn't think they were friends… yet. Tommy really didn't know, he'd never had friends before, especially ones older then him (same age as his bullies).

"I see one of them!"

"He's with Renamon!"

"Get 'em!"

The gang gasped and turned their heads, seeing Renamon and Takuya being chased by two Candlemon.

"RENAMON!" Alex screamed in fear.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Warrior of Fire and the Yellow Fox were running as fast as they could to stay ahead of the Candlemon, just barely dodging the attacks the Fire Digimon threw at them.

"**LAVA LOOGIE!**" They yelled, spitting their fire out like gum.

Takuya glanced over his shoulder in fear, Renamon keeping her eyes forward. He then turned his attention back to his D-tector, pressing random buttons to try and Spirit Evolve for the 3rd time that day.

"Come on, help me out here!" He muttered.

"Human, is there anything I can do to help?" Renamon asked, glancing at her side/Takuya for a second.

"**LAVA LOOGIE!**"

"How about you stop those crazy Candlemon?!" Takuya called, yelping as he nearly fell.

"On it!" She nodded and turned around.

Instantly, the Candlemon froze in fear, staring at the fox in fright.

"Renamon!" They gasped.

The fox glared at them as she glowed a ghostly blue light, her fists and feet soon were engulfed in a raging inferno of blue flames-

"**POWER PAW!**"

-then she leaped into the air, kicking and slicing at the speed of light and the Candlemon screamed in pain as the onslaught continued for 10 more seconds.

When it was over, Renamon knelled on the flour for a few seconds, before the burned and injured Candlemon dropped to the ground, unconscious. But two more came to replace them, screaming some very colorful language that, if she could have, Renamon would have covered both Alex's and Tommy's ears so they wouldn't hear such vial words.

As they continued to run, one of the Lava Loogie attacks got close enough to Takuya and Renamon that it made them trip and the boy ended up dropping his D-tector.

"Oh-no! My D-tector!" Takuya yelled, reaching for it as if that would help.

"Takuya!" JP yelled as Zoe, Tommy and Alex gasped.

Renamon turned around and took a defensive stance in front of Takuya, making sure to protect him from the Candlemon. Taking a glance over his shoulder, seeing Renamon protecting him, Takuya made a split second decision.

He jumped for his D-tector, turning in the air, grabbed it and then landed on his feet like a cat.

"What?!" Mustache gasped, a passed out Neemon and Bokomon sleeping next to him.

Taking a stance with his D-tector held high, Takuya called out the power within him, "Spirit Evolution time!"

The D-tector glowed a bright white light that completely engulfed Takuya's body, wrapping him in precious Data-

"**EXACUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!**"

-and when it disappeared, the tall, proud Agunimon: Warrior of Flames was standing there, ready for action.

The gang cheered as if their favorite singer had just come out on stage, calling out excitedly, "Agunimon! Agunimon! Yay!"

Renamon gasped at the sight of Agunimon, her normally calm and stoic composer faulting.

Mustache took a step forward, stating, "Well, I'll be dipped, the brat really is Agunimon!"

Bokomon and Neemon cheered.

Agunimon punched his fists together, grunting in preparation for an attack.

"**LAVA LOOGIE!**" The two Candlemon screamed, spitting out their attacks.

Red flames erupted from Agunimon's knuckles as he threw them apart. The flames whipped their way around his arms-

"I summon the **PYRO TORNADO**!"

-and with two punches, the attacks were sent right at the Candlemon, who grunted on impact but then smirked as the flames made the fires on their heads glow brighter and cruel cackles escaping their mouths. They fired their attacks at Agunimon and Renamon again, this time, the Warrior of Fire using his armor to disperse it while the Yellow Fox just dodged with great elegance, you'd think she was just practicing dance moves.

That was Alex's silent and personal opinion anyway.

The Candlemon laughed at Agunimon who seemed to notice for the first time that his attack hadn't done anything helpful.

"Wha?" He gasped.

* * *

Up on the ledge that the gang were watching, the group looked on in worry.

"What's wrong?" Tommy asked, nervousness and curiosity seeping through his voice.

"Fire attacks don't work on Candlemon, he should know that!" Zoe huffed, a pinch of panic in her tone.

Alex sweat-dropped, adding in, "Considering you didn't know that the Candlemon can go near water until a few minutes ago, Z, I can't see how he should have known that Fire attacks wouldn't work. After all, no matter how hard wax is, wax is still wax and therefore it should melt."

"I meant that since he's the Warrior of Fire Digimon, he should know what will or won't work on his fellow Mon. Plus, Renamon grew up with these guys, so she could have warned him."

"Hey, Jade and Koji maybe the Warriors of Chaos and Light, but I doubt they know everything about their own types. And Renamon didn't exactly have time to chit-chat with Takuya."

"Yumon isn't a Warrior, why did you call her the Warrior of Chaos?"

"It seemed to fit her, she is half-male and half-female in that form. Plus, I still believe that my sister is good, despite the history behind the Digimon she can become."

"I never said she wasn't, I just said that Yumon wasn't one of the 10 Legendary Warriors."

"It sounded like it to me."

"Uggg! What is with you?! Why are you so obsessed with defending your sister when she isn't even here, it's not like she'll hear me?"

"I'm so 'obsessed with defending her' because she'd do the same for me and she's all I have left!"

This made the others gasp, but Alex didn't stop.

"When you guys go home, you'll have nice little houses to return to with loving parents and siblings to give you great, big hugs, but I don't have that! My parents are missing! Our house was burned down! Jade is the only family I have left and I will not let you talk bad about her behind her back! I won't let you! Jade is my family, my home, the only thing I have left!" With tears in his eyes from flashbacks of his horrible past that the speech brought on, Alex turned around and ran into the cave.

Too bad the blonde didn't see the ice on the ground. Then maybe he would have saved what little dignity he still felt for himself. But no. He didn't see it and therefore couldn't stop himself from slipping and falling, landing painfully on his butt.

"I hate ice skating. I hate anything that's cold, unless it's food." The blonde grumbled.

It was then that the rest of the gang realized that they were all standing on ice. It was like the frosting on a cake, a thin layer that made it white, and in this case, very slippery.

"Be careful, Tommy." Zoe warned, gazing at the ice under her feet.

"I-I-I'm trying." Tommy stuttered, staring at the ice in slight fear.

JP grunted as he haled Alex up off the ground, gasping as his eyes caught on to something, "Wow, I didn't see that before!"

The other 3 looked in the direction that JP was staring, seeing a large cave, layered with thin ice and mist that reached up to Alex's ankles. Hanging from the ceiling were icicles that looked like if they fell, they would cut flesh and bones easily.

"We should be safe from those hot-heads in there." Zoe stated.

Alex wanted to say that ice was the same as wax, it melts, but decided against since it would probably start another useless argument that would end up with him getting worked up again and revealing more of their past that didn't need to be told right now.

* * *

The two Candlemon took in deep breaths and yelled, roaring fires coming out of both their mouths and forcing Agunimon and Renamon back, both standing on the defensive.

Tommy and Alex turned and gasped at the sighed, watching as their friends struggled.

The little brunette started fiddling with his D-tector, muttering, "Please give me a Spirit, I wanna help."

Alex decided to follow his example, playing with his D-3, "Come on, show me what you can do, pal, I really gotta help my friends here."

"Give it up, kid, the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors would never give their power to a pipsqueak like you." JP sighed, looming over the youngest member of the gang.

"Shut. Up. JP." Alex growled.

Tommy ignored them, continuing to play with the buttons.

"Looks like it's really up to me," JP said, pushing some buttons, "Awww, man. I wish this came with a manual."

Back on the Battlefield, one of the Candlemon got an idea, if the smug smirk on his face wasn't a clue.

"**PARAFFIN PARALYZER!**" He cried and fired multiple globs of hot wax to paralyze his opponents, spinning in a circle as he did so.

Since the fire onslaught stopped, Agunimon took a quick breather, "That stuff hurts."

"Agunimon, watch out!" Renamon warned.

The Warrior of Fire looked at the Yellow Fox just in time to see her get attacked by the globs of wax, which also hit Agunimon, making them both cry out and hiss as it froze them in place.

Tommy cried out, "Agunimon! Hang on!"

Alex gasped, "RENAMON!"

The two remembered their time with the Digimon.

Tommy remembered how Takuya and Jade risked their lives to save him from the Cerberumon incident. And how Takuya had saved him when Raremon had tried to hit him, and how Jade had, despite being tired, still tried to say Koji.

Alex remembered his casual conversation with Renamon and how elegant the Fox Digimon was in his eyes, it had made him feel all funny inside and when she looked at him, gave him her undivided attention, he had felt like the most special person in the world.

Agunimon and Renamon grunted in pain as the hot wax burned them.

"I can't… I can't move anything." The Warrior of Fire grunted.

"The Paraffin… Paralyzer can freeze it's victims in place… 50x as fast as normal wax stiffens." The Fox explained, grunting as she spoke.

And without another thought in their heads, Tommy and Alex did something that JP would consider stupid and that Jade would consider heroic.

"Hang on, Takuya, I'm coming!" Tommy yelled, sliding down the cliff with Alex hot on his heels.

"Help is on the way, Renamon!" The blonde called.

"Tommy, Alex, no!" Zoe cried.

"Stop kids!" JP added.

The older kids were ignored as Tommy took of his hat and used it like a bucket to chuck water at the Candlemon, crying out, "Lights out! Ya meanies!"

"Take this, you jerks!" Alex screamed, kicking the water, "This is for hurting Renamon!", kick, "That one's for Agunimon!", kick, "This one is for me," kick, "and this one's for all my friends!"

The Candlemon cried out and took 2 hops back each, not wanting to get hit by the water.

"I won't be just," Tommy cried, splashing the water, "a little kid in the way," splash, "ever again!"

"Neither," Alex cried, kicking the water, "will," kick, "I!"

Suddenly, a pillar of light erupted from within the ice cave, making Zoe and JP turn and gasp, the blonde crying, "Mamma mia!"

A small statue of a polar bear in green armor appeared and flew out of the cave, stopping in front of Tommy and freezing the river solid.

Alex watched this happen in astonishment, the cold forgotten to him.

Through Tommy's eyes, a shadow of a short bear, the same size as him, appeared out of the statue, giving a awe-struck Tommy a approving look.

"It's a Spirit!" He gasped, placing his hat back on his head.

The Spirit loomed in front of Tommy, giving a small smile and a nod of approval. The 3rd Grader reached into his pocket, pulled out his D-tector and pointed it at the statue, a light shooting out and downloading it as he cried, "Spirit, come to me!"

"**It is time.**" The Woman's voice said.

Tommy nodded, a neutral expression on his face.

"**EXACUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!**" Tommy cried as he was wrapped in the Data.

Suddenly, while Tommy evolved, Alex's D-3 started going off.

"Hey! What the-" He yelled, reaching in his pocket and taking it out.

The D-3 shot a light towards the Fox Digimon, making both Alex and Renamon gasp as they locked eyes. The light that now connected the D-3 to Renamon seemed to have connected them as well, entertaining their souls and making their hearts beat as one. As their eyes became trapped, neither of them noticed the D-3 begin to change colors.

Suddenly, Alex knew what to do.

"Digivole!" He cried, raising his D-3 high.

Renamon nodded and was wrapped in Data.

When the two Data spheres around both Renamon and Tommy disappeared, they had both changed a lot.

Where Tommy once was, was now a young polar bear who walked on his hind-legs. His hands only had 3 fingers, his checks had red Indian-like markings on them and his eyes were a bright coffee-brown. On his head was a helmet made of green armor that resembled a hockey-player's helmet and had a bear head sticker in the middle. He had a piece of red armor on his right arm and a piece of grey armor on his left shoulder. On his feet were green boats with red and yellow designs. He had a green vest made of armor and a launcher on his back named "Romeo".

"KUMAMON!" He called, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

Alex was staring at where Renamon once was in shock, unable to believe that the beautiful fox had become even more stunning.

Where Renamon once was, there was still a Fox Digimon, only she was much more impressive in both power and beauty. She was about the size of a small Indian elephant, had the Yin&amp;Yang symbol on her legs and forehead, a large peppermint striped collar tied like a bow with bells on each end and paper triangle chains hanging from the loop around the front of her neck, nine huge tails with flames on each tip, as well as flames on all four of her feet. Her neck had a main of snow-white fur, tips of white on her ears, a Yin&amp;Yang symbol on her forehead and two mirroring purple lines under her eyes.

"KYUBIMON!" The new fox cried.

Zoe gasped, "That's amazing!"

"That's impossible!" JP argued.

"_It's Tommy._" Agunimon thought in shock.

Neemon, who was now awake, cheered at the sight of the new Digimon while the Candlemon started muttering to themselves and Bokomon pulled out his trusty book, looking for any information on the new Digimon.

"What in blazes has happened to my granddaughter?!" Mustache yelled in shocked out-rage.

"It is." Bokomon realized, gaining Neemon's attention, "It's Kumamon the Legendary Warrior of Ice. And Renamon was Digivolved into Kyubimon, Champion Level, Data type who's attacks include Dragon Wheel, Fox Tail Inferno, Head-butt, Fox Attack, Electric Fox Attack and Tengu, which is when she emits a scream that summons a Spirit to haunt her enemies."

Kumamon and Kyubimon exchanged a quick glance and after nodding to one another, Kyubimon took a few steps back and helped Agunimon by melting away the wax that trapped him while Kumamon ran across the frozen river, preparing himself for battle.

"Time to teach you bullies a lesson." He growled.

The little polar bear took a very deep breath and blew as hard as he could, calling out, "**CRYSTAL BREEZE!**"

The attack hit one of the Candlemon, effectively freezing him solid.

"Hey there, teddy-bear, you want a playmate? Ha cha." The other Candlemon chuckled.

He surrounded himself in fire and then was wrapped in Data and when it disappeared, standing in front of them was a humanoid Digimon who resembled someone dressed in a one piece jumpsuit. He had brown leather gloves and boats, a dark blue hood which covered his mouth and had Digi-Code inside it. In his right hand was a staff with a sun-like orb on it and on his head was a wizard's hat. His boats had crescent moons on them and his hair seemed scare-crow like.

Bokomon was quick to introduce him and Alex was just as quick to find information on him.

"Wizardmon. This mysterious Champion Level Digimon came make you disappear with his Electro Squall and Magical Game attacks." The mutant introduced.

"He can also attack with his Thunder Ball, Vision of Terror and Blink Breeze. He's a Data type." The male blonde stated.

"**CRYSTAL BREEZE!**" Kumamon yelled and blew his icy-winds at the humanoid Digimon.

"Take off, teddy!" Wizardmon huffed and kicked the Warrior of Ice in his face, sending Kumamon bouncing once and landing on his face.

"Kumamon!" Agunimon and Kyubimon cried.

The Fox Digimon grew angry and she hissed, "You're gonna pay for that, you poor excuse for a carnival clown."

She started to spin very fast, which caused the flames on her body to erupt into a fiery inferno. This turned her body into a ball of swirling blue fire.

"**DRAGON WHEEL!**" She shrieked.

A dragon of blue flames emitted from the Fox Digimon's body, and made a lung for Wizardmon, but the sneaky little wizard Digimon dodged it, laughing as the Dragon disappeared and forcing Kyubimon to stop spinning and land in front of Kumamon, growling at Wizardmon, who laughed at her, smugly.

"Looks like the great Agunimon has a little problem with waxy build up," He laughed, smugly, causing Agunimon to growl, "and the Chief's precious granddaughter is even weaker than a pile of Sukamon. HAHAHAHAHA! How embarrassing must it be," Kyubimon growled as well, "to know you're getting schooled by a fellow Champion, a Digimon you could beat easily as a Rookie Level?!"

"Shut up! You don't know anything about them, you stupid, poor excuse of for a carnival clown!" Alex yelled, angry with the insults sent to his friends.

"Ohhh, looks like the Renamon fan-club is angry that I insulted their queen. I know, let's play a little **MAGICAL GAME** to calm things down a little. Ta-ta." Wizardmon laughed and with a raise of his staff, turned himself invisible.

Agunimon grunted from effort one more time and finally freed himself from the wax.

"That was weird." Kumamon stated, childish innocent in his voice.

"You're telling me, kid." Kyubimon agreed.

The Fox Digimon turned to Alex to see him running over to her.

"Kyubimon! Can I ride on your back?" He asked as he came over.

"This is a battlefield, Alex, you could more than likely get hurt." She argued.

"I know. But I also believe that you won't let anything bad happen to me."

"I can't promise to protect you."

"I never asked you to. I just wanna ride with you in battle, because, for one thing I trust you and for another thing, I wanna see things from your perspective. Please."

"Alex, I am not going to risk your-"

"Please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE-"

"Fine! Have it your way. Just don't blame me if you get hurt."

"Don't worry, I know you won't let me get hurt!"

Kyubimon muttered something under her breath, something about how foolish humans were while Alex grinned in victory and pulled himself on her back, crabbing onto the candy-cane collar. Agunimon stood, ready for an attack, turning every time he heard footsteps behind him, trying to locate the laughing Wizardmon.

"Up here! I know, let's play catch!"

Suddenly, bolts of lightning appeared out of nowhere and attacked both Agunimon and Kyubimon. But the two Digimon were swift and easily dodged the attacks launched at them, which seemed to humor Wizardmon, since they heard him laughing and saw him land in front of them, allowing himself to be visible again.

"Not bad for a Legendary Warrior and Little Miss Perfect," Wizardmon teased, making the yellow Vixen growl at the nickname, "but I've got plenty up my sleeve!" suddenly, Wizardmon started duplicating himself, making a ring of Wizardmons around both Agunimon and Kyubimon, who still had Alex on her back, "Too bad you're going to lose, no matter which Wizardmon you chose!"

"Which is the real Wizardmon?!" JP exclaimed as Zoe gasped, adding in, "They all look the same to me!"

The Wizardmons started their taunting.

"Agunimon, Kyubimon, don't you two see?"

"All these Wizardmon are me."

"We all look real because we are."

"Just try to run you won't get far!"

"This is just a game. Only one is real and I'm gonna find him." Agunimon stated.

"I think you mean, we'll find him, Takuya." Alex sweat-dropped.

The Wizardmon began again.

"Every Warrior must fall."

"Your time is up!"

"**ELECTRO SQUALL!**"

With that command, all the Wizard Digimon fired their electric attack at the two Digimon and one human, but once again, Agunimon and Kyubimon were swift. They jumped into the air before the electric attack could target them, the bright light of the lightening allowing Kumamon to point something out that he believed could help his friends.

"Agunimon! Kyubimon! Alex! Look down here, only one of them has a shadow!" The Polar Bear cried, hopping to help them.

"Thanks!" Agunimon grunted, raising his knee as gravity started effecting him, "Game's over!"

His knee collided with the Humanoid Digimon, making him cry out as his attack and illusion faded, the fight knocking him out and forcing his Fractal Code to be revealed.

"I never did believe in magic." Agunimon grunted, taking out his D-tector and activating it, "Here's a trick for ya!" Using those graceful hand movements once more, Agunimon absorbed Wizardmon's Fractal Code, crying out, "FRACTAL CODE: DIGITIZE!"

Wizardmon reverted back to being a normal Candlemon, passed out. Seeing the battle was won, Zoe was the first to celebrate.

"YAY! MOTO BENE!" The blonde girl screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Yeah, mo-" JP attempted to copy her, but found he couldn't, simply going with, "what she said!"

Agunimon smiled and helped Kumamon to his feet, the little polar bear sighing pleasantly as he did.

"Thanks, Agunimon." The Warrior of Ice thanked.

"No, thank you, Kumamon. You're on brave little bear." The Warrior of Fire stated.

"Indeed, for your first battle, you did rather well." Kyubimon agreed, trotting over to him.

Kumamon laughed at the praise and closed his eyes, a cheerful smile on his face.

Suddenly, some Candlemon spoke up.

"Well, I guess this proves that they really are the Legendary Warriors after all."

"And who knew that Renamon could Digivolve, all thanks to one little human!"

"It's amazing!"

"Kyubimon is so beautiful!"

"You think her human friend can make me Digivolve, too?"

"Settle down, everyone, settle down." Mustache said, taking a step forward. "I agree, I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself, but that does not mean we must mutter behind my granddaughter's back, now does it?"

Speaking of the Fox Digimon, suddenly, she, Agunimon and Kumamon were wrapped in Data and reverted to their regular selves, Alex standing by Renamon's side while Takuya and Tommy faced each other.

"You have indeed proven yourselves worthy of carrying the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors, my young human friends." Mustache congratulated, "Takuya," at the mention of his name, the Goggle-head gave his friend a thumbs up and a wink, "and Little Tommy." At the mention of his name, Tommy copied Takuya and started bashfully rubbing the back of his head as Mustache continued, "You two have truly honored the great names of Agunimon and Kumamon, I salute you both!"

With that little speech down, the Candlemon tribe cheered at the top of their lungs.

* * *

A little while later, the whole gang and Renamon were standing in front of Mustache and his two friends, everyone safe and sound once more.

"I'm afraid I owe you all an apology." Mustache apologized and sheepishly placed his hand on his head, "The truth is we thought you might possess the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors but we still had to make sure, I'm sorry we didn't trust you."

"So then all of this," Tommy asked, "has been a test?"

"That pretty much stinks," Takuya groaned, everyone gaining slight glares on their faces, "You're lucky I don't pinch your lights out for that!"

"I'm so sorry, you have every right to be angry." Mustache chuckled.

"What about you, Renamon?" Alex asked, turning to the vixen.

"I knew not of the plan my grandfather had made to test you and your friends, Alex. I would have thought he'd tell me, thought." Renamon stated, turning her attention to her grandfather.

"I'm sorry Renamon, but it was an order from Lady Witchmon herself. She said that someone in this group would be your Human Partner and so I had no choice but to see if it was true." Mustache explained, causing whispers of shock to exit every Candlemon's mouth.

"The Lady Witchmon wanted Renamon to be partnered to one of those Humans?!"

"I don't believe this!"

"Doesn't Lady Witchmon hate humans?"

"How can this be?"

"Umm, Renamon, who is this 'Lady Witchmon' that everyone's going nuts over?" Alex asked, covering half of his mouth and whispering into Renamon's ear.

"Lady Witchmon was the founder of the Candlemon tribe. She adopted and raised her children for over a 100 years here, before finally passing away. Some say her soul continues to reside here, guiding the chief of the village to making the best decisions he or she can for the good of the people." Renamon explained.

"Silence, please." Mustache called, everyone instantly shutting up, "I know this is hard to believe, but I do have prof."

"You do?" Everyone exclaimed.

Mustache nodded and pointed at Alex, stating, "Lady Witchmon said that if the boy's D-3 was colored right, it would mean that Renamon was his partner. Show us the device that Lady Witchmon said you called a D-3, boy."

Alex did as he was told and everyone gasped. The device had changed to be mostly yellow with blue buttons and purple grips. There was no mistaking, the device matched Renamon exactly.

Mustache nodded to himself and then turned to his granddaughter, a sadness tainting his smile slightly.

"Renamon, this means you must go now. You've spent your entire life in these canyon walls, but now it's your turn to spread your wings and fly away to another life, one that will treat your adventurous spirit well. Be safe, my granddaughter." Mustache said, solemnly.

During his speech, it appeared as if Renamon were fighting tears as it happened, but was able to calm herself enough to say, "I will be, grandfather."

All the other Candlemon in the area started sniffling and getting all mushy, too.

"It'll never be the same without Renamon here."

"Yeah, she was the square beg in a round hole, the 10 pointed star among the 5 pointed ones, the fox among the candles."

"We'll miss you, Foxy."

"Be careful, the real world isn't as nice as us."

"Oh, just relax, remember Renamon isn't nice either."

"Yeah, and she's travelling with the Legendary Warriors, she'll be fine."

"Plus, we all know she can handle herself in a fight, there isn't one person in this whole tribe who's ever defeated her in battle."

"Oh boys." Renamon chuckled, a slight groan in her voice and tears in her eyes.

The gang smiled at the touching seen-

"**Fractal Code: Rendered.**"

-then the woman's voice, the one on their D-tectors, had to ruin the moment by making Data shoot out of Takuya's D-tector and fix the bridge, making everyone stare in shock and awe.

"Wizardmon had the code." Bokomon realized.

Renamon and Alex sweat-dropped, stating, "Really? I didn't notice."

"Wizardmon held within him the Fractal Code for the bridge which protected our village from evil Digimon." Mustache stated, turning around to face the humans and Renamon, "Young Takuya, for many years, no one has crossed this canyon but you have my official permission, to use this bridge. And young Alex, you have my permission to take my granddaughter with you on your adventure. All of you must follow the tracts and they will lead you to the Forest Terminal but it is a perilous journey."

With his head turned to the bridge, JP said, "Ummm, maybe we should think about this guys, there's still time to go home."

Zoe giggled at him, stating, "You're just jealous because Tommy found his inner Digimon and you haven't yet."

"Why would I even care about that, shorty can have it. It's just that being here is like working." JP grumbled.

"We all know how you feel about that, JP." Takuya stated and soon everyone was laughing, with JP muttering, "Very funny."

It was then that everyone noticed a Trailmon crossing the bridge over their heads, its lights bright.

* * *

In that Trailmon, Koji sat there, staring out the window at the scenery that passed by rather quickly while Jade sat across from him, staring down the canyon through the window, her eyes noticing a head of dirty blonde hair, her mind automatically calling out.

"…Alex?"

* * *

"Hey, somebody else just beat us across the bridge." Takuya called, gaining everyone's attention on the Trailmon above.

Alex gasped, noticing a due brown head looking at him through the window, one word uttering from his mouth, "…Jade?"

"I wonder if they're going to the Forest Terminal, too." Takuya silently wondered, his mind referring to Jade and Koji.

The train-like Digimon crossed the bridge and then left their sight, leaving Alex still wondering if he had indeed seen his sister, healthy and well, on that train or if it was just a figure of his imagination.

"_That could have been a serious melt down, hopefully the Dream Team's on the right track now. We'll see, on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters."_


	4. Kick it, Kazemon

**Digimon Frontier-Episode 4: Kazemon, Kicks it!**

"_Neemon told the gang they could take the train back to reality, but they all decided to stick it out in the Digital World. Things were going well until they found the marks of the 10 Legendary Warriors. Bokomon took this as his cue for another lecture. Fortunately, he was interrupted by the Candlemon and Renamon, unfortunately the Candlemon weren't so happy to see them. They turned up the heat on Agunimon and Renamon, who seemed to be in big trouble until Tommy Spirit Evolved to Kumamon and Alex made Renamon Digivole to Kyubimon, who took on Wizardmon and the whole Candlemon tribe. Turns out, it was all some kind of test, this makes math look like a piece of cake."_

On the Trailmon that Koji and Jade were on, he click-adee-clacked along the tracks, making the ride a bit bumpier then Jade personally liked, but she sure wasn't gonna complain; she was finally able to rest her left foot and look at it properly.

"It sure looks bad." Koji stated.

"Nah, I've had worst injuries then that, trust me, I know when something looks bad and is bad." Jade chuckled as she placed a bandage around the slight swelling on her ankle, "I'm sure if I just give it some rest, it'll heal right up."

"Then why aren't you asleep, yet?"

"I was talking to you, I thought it would be rude if I just fell asleep on you. Plus, I find it easier to relax when I'm awake. I have a horrible case of Night Terrors."

"What the Hell is that?"

"It's a term I made up for when someone has too many nightmares. I think there's a proper term, but I don't know it so I made up the term Night Terrors."

"What kind of nightmares do you have?"

"Ones I can't remember."

"Very funny."

Jade laughed and finished with her ankle, pulling her jeans down to cover it.

"I still find it hard to believe that just by turning into Yumon I was able to get a fully healed shoulder and not a fully healed ankle." The brunette mused, twiddling with one of her strings of orange-brown hair.

"I have to wonder how that happened, too." The raven-haired boy agreed, going into a thinking pose of some kind.

Jade just shrugged, uncaring, "Who cares? I'm just glad that the injury that could have probably been the worst was healed. That acid would have more than likely eaten my entire arm off and even if it didn't, it would probably have been severely infected with some disease, knowing this crazy world."

"But you don't know this world, none of us do. Why do you keep on talking and acting like you know it inside out?" Koji questioned her, making Jade stare at him in surprise.

"Well…" She trailed off, changing her position so she was cross-legged on the seat, "it's kinda hard to explain. Like I've been here before, as if a long time ago, this place was my home, but I just can't remember my time here, properly. It's like the memories are in my subconscious, slowly but surely bubbling to the surface, but still refusing to pop and make themselves known to me."

When she got a silent stare from the Warrior of Light, the Warrior of Chaos (as her brother called her) just laughed it off, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"I'm sorry, I say weird things and can start to ramble on about them practically all the time. I'm an idiot, I'm sorry." She apologized, silently cursing herself.

He raised a hand to try to stop her, stating, "Actually, you-"

Their D-tectors suddenly started beeping and making weird noises, encouraging the duo to pull them out of their pockets and look at them, seeing the Woman's Symbol on the screen.

"**You must go to the Forest Terminal.**" She instructed.

And then her symbol disappeared, along with the transmission.

"The Forest Terminal? Sure, why not?" Koji shrugged, uncaring.

"Do you think the others will be there?" Jade questioned, curiously.

"Probably. You miss your brother?"

"A lot. Ever since I was 4, the only times when me and my brother have been separated were when we needed to go to the bath room."

"You two are really close, aren't you?"

"I like to think so. Like peanut butter and jelly. He can irritate me at times, there's no way that two people who spend as much time together as we do can't get into at least a few fights, but we always are able to calm down and get it together. He's all the family I have left."

"No parents? Or antes and uncles?"

"The reason I spend all my time with Alex is because my parents disappeared. Last time I talked to my uncle and his girlfriend was before some jackass adopted me and Alex. As far as I know, they think we're dead. It was announced all over the local news since our adopter was a bit of a celebrity."

"Why would he tell everyone that you're dead?"

"Because we ran away and he'd probably like to think that we're dead. Ha, I can imagine the poor bastard's face if he ever saw us again. I always told him that if I died before him, I'd haunt him. If he died before me, however, I told him I'd laugh and dance on his grave."

"You hate this guy that much?"

"No. Despite attempting to beat me into an early grave a 100 times while treating Alex like a Prince, he's never done anything to hurt me. Of course I wouldn't hate the guy who tried to murder me."

Koji stared at Jade in absolute shock, but she just grinned.

"Told you I know when something looks bad or is bad. I had a lot of practice thanks to that dumbass and thought I don't exactly hate him, I know I won't be able to forget him." The brunette laughed.

"Did he possibly hit your head too many times? Why didn't you tell anyone?" The raven-head asked.

"He said he's kill my brother. If he had done that, then I really would hate him. I don't know much about insanity, which you are implying I have, but I do like to think of myself as a little bit crazy."

"A little bit?"

"Okay, I admit it, I'm nuttier then a squirrel. Does that bother you?"

"…Surprisingly, no. As long as you're not a psycho, I think I can handle your nuttiness."

"Hahaha… I got you to say nuttiness."

"So?"

"It sounds funny coming from the mouth of a calm, cool, collected guy like you. Now, all I have to do is get my Uncle-in-Spirit Zane to say it and I will have gotten every calm, collected guy I know to say a word related to crazy."

"Riiight…?"

Jade burst out laughing at the look on his face and after a while, Koji couldn't fight back a chuckle either.

"You're a weirdo." He stated.

"Takes one to know one!" She laughed.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, how's this for weird?"

Suddenly, Koji started tickle attacking Jade, making the brunette cry out as he tickled her sides and happy tears fell down her face as she begged for mercy. He did stop tickling her, eventually, but didn't lose the smile he had on his face for a short while. Jade smiled back him, showing off her teeth that were surprisingly well looked after from the looks of things.

"Ya know… I never acted like that before." Koji said, that small smile on his face ever present.

"Acted like what?" Jade asked, curiously tilting her head.

"Ya know, how we just were, a few seconds ago, ummm… What's the word for that?"

"Immature? Childish?"

"That's the one. Even when I was little, I've practically just been, quiet, a little cold and… It got worst over time, especially recently. It's my own fault, really."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Considering how open you seem to be with your story, why not?"

"Because it could make you feel uncomfortable. I've sorta told you what happened, but I haven't told you the whole story, so you haven't really got to."

"… If you're willing to listen, thought, I guess I'm willing to talk."

"Then get on with the chit-chat, Koji, hehe, I'm always up for hearing a bit of history."

"Well, my mother died when I was really young, I don't even remember her; all I have is a photo. I guess, I was quiet because of that and I never really let myself get close to anyone. A little while ago, my father remarried and I just don't like my step-mother all that much. But, I wanted to suck it up and at least try to be nice to her, for my Dad's sake. I was gonna get her some flowers, but then I got the call to go here and well, here we are now."

"Wow. Can't say I know how you feel, since I haven't been in that position. When I was 4, my house burned down and only me and Alex got out. The police didn't find any bodies, but our parents were last seen in that house we used to live in. They were presumed dead, but we still believe they're alive, waiting for us somewhere. Anyway, I think you were doing the right thing."

"What?"

"Trying to be kind to your step-mother. I think that was the right thing to do, but I'm also glad you decided to get on that Trailmon, because if you hadn't, we never would have met. And we never would have gotten to turn into Digimon, which was totally cool!"

"I have to say I agree with you there… Thanks, Jade."

"For what?"

"For, well, listening for one thing and saying your opinion for another. It… felt good, being told I was doing the right thing for once."

"Because you were. Hey, if you want, when we get back home, I can help you pick out some flowers and if you say you're anti-social, then maybe I could come over, too."

"I didn't say that and anyway, what would me being anti-social have to do with anything?"

"Well, for one thing, I know I'd feel better if I knew my kid had at least one friend, rather than always spending their time alone. If you'll accept me as a friend, I would really like to meet your parents someday."

"I think… that my Dad would like that very much."

"I'm sure he would. And your step-mother, too."

Koji smiled at Jade and she smiled back at him, both of them barely noticing the Trailmon slowing down and stopping.

"Ya know, I don't know about you, but I think we should check out our stop." Jade suggested, getting to her feet.

"Yeah, we don't really have anything better to do, besides talk." Koji agreed, standing up.

"Well, are you going to escort me?"

"What?"

"Never mind."

"Whatever."

With a slight shrug, Jade skipped her way off the train while Koji smiled, shook his head and followed her in a bit more of a controlled manner, muttering about childish girls under his breath. The station they were at looked like it could have been the Forest Terminal, but Jade doubted it. There was a large tree and a surrounding forest area, a few small huts not too far away, but that was about it.

"Just call me the Nap-Time Express." The Trailmon sighed, sleepily and started snoring.

The two walked over to the large Digimon's face, seeing him snoring away, rather loudly. It ended up making Koji and Jade yawn, in union no less. The two stared at each other in surprise, but then they both giggled/chuckled.

"Well, I guess we'd better catch a snooze, too." Koji stated, finished with his chuckle.

"Agreed." Jade said, finished with her giggle.

The raven-haired boy smiled. The Warrior of Light spotted a bench and he started heading towards it, the Warrior of Chaos following suit. The two sat on it together, leaning against each other, slightly.

"All this quiet sure gives a guy time to think." Koji muttered.

"You must be deaf, Koji. I can still hear Trailmon, snorting." Jade chuckled.

"That was kinda a signal for you to be quiet so we could both get some sleep."

"It was? Damn, I'm an idiot, sorry."

"It's fine, now go to sleep. Good night, Jadedena."

"Okay. Night, Koji Minamoto."

Smiling slightly at the playful use of her full-first-name, Jade closed her eyes and sighed, letting a calming breath escape her lungs and allowing sleep to come to her naturally, one final though in her head.

"_I hope Alex is doing okay._"

Koji watched as the girl beside him slowly fell asleep, a small smile on his face as his mind also grew a bit hazy. He took a breath through his nose, noticing that Jade smelt like chocolate and oranges subconsciously, before letting it out and resting his head against her head, the darkness of sleep taking the Warrior of Light to a place of safe and sweet serenity.

* * *

The next morning, we find ourselves with Alex, Renamon and their side of the gang once more, JP starting off the day by saying, "So guys, are we there yet?"

"Let's see, what's wrong with this picture: Desert-looking waste land, Forest Terminal. I'd say no." Takuya said, sarcasm dripping off his every word.

"Oh, I'm tired," Tommy moaning, stopping, "let's take a rest."

"But there's a scenic route coming up ahead!" Takuya cheered, grabbing Tommy's shoulders and pushing him ahead.

Alex and Renamon ignored the banter going on behind them, keeping an eye out for danger. They were walking with Alex in front, Renamon beside him, Zoe behind them, JP next, Bokomon and Neemon behind, Tommy in second-to-last place and Takuya behind him.

"Ya know, JP, if you haven't fed chocolate to that Trailmon, we'd be riding in air conditioned comfort right now." Takuya pointed out as he walked along the tracks, trying to keep his balance.

"So he made a mistake," Zoe sighed with a scowl, tired of the constant complaints of the Goggle-headed boy, "what are you gonna do, take away his bowling shoes?"

"She does have a point, Takuya." Renamon stated, drawing everyone's attention.

"We are just Human and we all make mistakes, and JP had good intensions." Alex argued.

"Ever hear that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions?" Takuya grumbled.

"Ever hear that if you don't shut up, you won't go back to the Human World alive?"

"Oh, you wanna fight, Blondie?"

"No, because I would sooooo, kick your sorry butt and then I'd have to carry your body with us."

"You wish, pretty boy."

"Both of you shut up or else you will regret the day you were born." Renamon growled, sick of the bickering.

Both boys started sweating and gulped, meekly replying with, "Yes ma'am!"

"Hey," Tommy called, pointing behind them, "what's that?"

The gang turned to see a pink mole-like Digimon heading towards them on the tracks, honking its' horn to warn any nearby Digimon it was coming.

"It's a Trailmon!" JP gasped.

"Uhh, finally." Zoe muttered.

"His name is Mole. He's timid but lazy." Renamon introduced.

Alex nodded as the Digimon stopped in front of them, glad he hadn't heard Renamon's comments.

"Hey, Trailmon, what's up?" Takuya asked, raising his arms in an 'I don't know' fashion, "Can you take us to the Forest Terminal?"

Mole moaned, turning his head slightly, "I over ate at my last stop. Besides, I'm a Freight Train, no riders, no accepts."

When she heard that, the blonde ran over to the Trailmon and hopped on, holding on to his sides tightly, stating, "Trailmon I am as light as bubble wrap. Andiamo."

The boys, besides Alex, followed Zoe's example, Takuya adding, "Just think of us all as cargo."

Mole started giggling and rapidly hammered his paws on the ground, saying through his laughs, "Your little fingers are tickling me, it's something awful." He ended up throwing JP and Neemon off first, "It's too much!" Then Takuya, Zoe, Bokomon and Tommy fell as well, "I'd like to bend the rules but I'm just too ticklish! Sorry kids! Just keep on this track, you'll get there!" and he sped away, bobbling as if the kids were still tickling him, leaving them on the ground in shame and Alex and Renamon sweat-dropping at their desperation.

"So much for," Takuya groaned, sitting on his head with his butt in the air, "getting there soon."

"What a bad landing, uhh." Zoe groaned, getting to her feet and making a pouting position, screaming at the top of her lungs, "COME BACK HERE! TRAILMON!"

* * *

A while later, they had come to an intersection where one track led off into the forest while another continued following the waist-land. Bokomon spotted a switch and decided to jump on it, swinging back and forth, acting just the littlest bit childish in Alex's opinion.

"The track splits here, now which way to go? Left or right, right or left? Or up or down, on and off, fast or slow: time to make a decision. Ugh, I made myself sick." The Keeper of the Book groaned the last part.

"This way." Takuya pointed at the waist land, Tommy turning his head to follow his gaze.

"That way." Zoe pointed at the forest area, Tommy turning his head to follow her gaze.

"You're wrong."

"Why? Just because I disagree with you? Don't you think the Forest Terminal just might be surrounded by trees?"

"Trailmon said stay on this track and your way curves left! You think you know everything."

"Well, I'm right."

"So you wanna go right?"

"No, I'm going the way that makes sense! Later!"

"See ya!"

With that, the blonde and the brunette stomped off away from each other, childishly. Renamon sighed at this.

"Wait up, Takuya!" Tommy called, running after the Goggle-head.

"Hey, we should stick together!" JP yelped, chasing after Zoe.

Alex, Renamon, Bokomon and Neemon watched the two parties walk off, all 4 of them deciding who to follow and who not to follow.

"Humans." Neemon sighed.

"My thoughts exactly, Neemon." Renamon agreed.

Alex sheepishly rubbed his head, "Sorry, Renamon, but in their defense, they are still kids."

"You know, guys," Bokomon began, gaining their attention, "those two might be the next to Digivolve."

The 3 Digimon and 1 Human turned their heads to see JP and Zoe walking away from them, the blonde in a huff and the brunette in a sigh.

"It's imperative that when they Spirit Evolve we must be there," Bokomon stated, a grin slowly creeping up the corners of his beak, "we wouldn't want to miss that, now would we?"

"It's imperative, what's that mean?" Neemon asked, mimicking his friend.

"It's a very set word that mean we have to be there; I can't wait to see that happen in person!"

"But, don't we have to be there for that?"

"Snap out of it, moron!"

With a snap of his pants, Neemon started whimpering and hopping after Bokomon, who proudly started trotting along the tracks towards Zoe and JP, who were having their own conversation. Sharing a quick glance, Alex sighed and started following the mutant, picking up the injured rabbit in the process, with the fox following him close behind.

"I can't believe that Tommy and Takuya went the other way, I mean, it's pretty obvious it's this way, I hope. He can be a real jerk sometimes." JP stated, shrugging to himself.

"You got that right." Zoe agreed, stopping to gaze off into the distance and then walking ahead of JP again, who looked rather smug for some reason.

"It's like I'm the beef and he's the jerky." The heavy-set male smirked, folding his arms like a boss.

"Do you think she's listening?" Bokomon asked.

"Nope." Neemon and Alex stated.

JP's face turned a bright red before he turned and started running after the blonde, calling out, "Hold up, Z!"

"I have to wonder sometimes how he can run like that when your female friend is involved." Renamon sighed, a pinch of curiosity in her eyes.

"It's the Power of Love, Renamon. The most wondrous and powerful force in the universe." Alex said, in a voice tone that would make his uncle proud.

The fox Digimon stared at him as he ran to catch up to the others, Neemon still in his arms, and then, she also began trotting to catch up to them.

* * *

"That is one humongous tree!" Zoe exclaimed, a few hours later.

After walking in mostly silence, just following the tracks and making small talk along the way, the gang reached a tree so large, that the Trailmon tracks were climbing over its roots. Renamon had to agree, it was humongous.

"No, Zoe, it's not humongous. IT'S A GIANT THAT'S BIGGER THEN SLIFER THE SKY DRAGON!" Alex yelled, completely freaked out by the size of the thing.

"So then this must be the Forest Terminal, right?" JP suggested.

"Let's climb a bit higher and see what we can find out." Bokomon suggested and they started climbing the Trailmon tracks.

Eventually, they came across a station and a sign that read something in Japanese Kanji, but Alex couldn't read them.

"According to this sign, this is Breezy Village." Bokomon stated.

"It's called the what now?" Zoe asked.

"Welcome tourists."

The gang turned their heads to see Koji standing on the other side of the station with…

"JADE!" Alex screamed in happiness, not thinking twice about jumping on the tracks and running over to his sister.

The brunette laughed happily and after her blonde brother pulled himself onto the other station, he tackle hugged her, making her stumble back at first, but soon she was able to compose herself and hug him back, laughing merrily.

"Miss me, brother?" She teased.

Alex brook away from the hug and nodded rapidly, making Jade laugh even harder.

"Well, I missed you to, big guy. Come here, you little rascal!" She yelled and pulled her brother in a head lock, nuggying him while Alex struggled in her grip, laughing all the same.

Zoe smiled at the happy reunion and turned to Koji.

"Hey, Koji, what's up?" She called.

Instantly, Jade stopped nuggying her brother and dropped him out of the head lock, turning to the female blonde and pouting, "What? You say 'Hi' to the guy you barley know and not the girl you shared a train-ride with?"

Zoe laughed a bit nervously, adding in, "Hello to you to, Jade."

"Ha! Now, that's more like it!" Jade grinned, hands on her hips and her smile as wide as a Cheshire Cat.

"Hey sis!" Alex called, gaining Jade's attention, "I made a new friend! Come on, I want you to meet her!"

The blonde grabbed Jade by her sleeve and started tugging her along, making her 'Whoa' in surprise. They got to the other side of the station where Renamon was waiting for them, a small grin on her face.

Once Alex climbed up, he stood in front of Renamon and gestured to her with his palm, stating, "This is Renamon and she's my Digimon Partner! My D-3 made her Digivolve into this Digimon called Kyubimon and she was the coolest Digimon ever!"

Jade extended her hand to the fox, smiling, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Renamon. I'm Jade, I'm curtain you've heard of me."

Renamon smiled and took Jade's hand in her paw, shaking it, "The pleasure is all mine, Jade. Alex has indeed told me an awful lot about you."

Koji let the tiniest of smiles appear on his face, before a frown of confusion appeared, again. Seriously, what the **Hell** was Jade doing to him? She was just some girl who saved his life, big deal! That didn't explain the… effect she had on him. Or how her smile felt more contagious then the flue… Or how her laugh made him feel like joining in, every single time. He'd never been like that around **anyone**, not even his own family! What the Hell is going on with him, damn it?!

"Hey, Koji! Get out of Lala Land already!"

Snapping out of his thoughts, he turned his head to see Jade smiling at him from across the tracks. Putting on a mask of indifference, something he had gotten really good at over the years, Koji turned to the Keeper of the Book, since he always seemed to have all the answers.

"So, this isn't the Forest Terminal, huh?" He said, his voice void of emotions.

"You're right, it's not." Bokomon confirmed, mentally sighing.

Koji frowned and jumped off the station and onto the tracks, beginning to walk away. Jade stopped chit-chatting with the fox and watched with JP, Alex, Bokomon, Zoe, Neemon and Renamon in confusion as he started to walk off, the female blonde asking, "Ummm, where're you doing?"

Turning his head over his shoulders, Koji stated coldly, "Where I go is my own business, thanks for asking."

"Oh, you're so anti-social!" Zoe huffed.

"He reminds me of white chocolate, it may look good but no taste." JP joked.

Jade glared at him, stating, "I'll have you know I like white chocolate, you jerk."

"Does that mean you think he's good looking, JP?" Alex asked, innocently tilting his head to the side.

JP's face invented a whole new shade of red and he yelled in the younger blonde's face, "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!"

Koji continued walking along, believing he'd be on his own if he did. Not that it mattered to him, he was used to being alone. He kinda needed to be, Jade was growing on him far too much. Though, he couldn't stop the thought from filling up his head:

"_I wish Jade would go with me._"

Why the Hell did he think something stupid like that? What the Hell had that girl done to him to make him just… want to be with her! What the Hell happened to make him want her company instead of just his shadow's?! What the Hell had she done to him?! Nothing made sense when that idiot brunette was in his mind, damn it!

Besides, it's not like just by wishing she'll appear out of thin air.

"Wait up, Koji!"

Spoke too soon.

The bandanna-boy stopped in his tracks and turned behind him to see Jade running over to him, both of them deep in the forest now.

"Aren't you supposed to be reuniting with your little brother?" He asked.

Jade stopped right beside him, placing her hands on her knees and panting before a grin broke out on her face, making her turn and say, "I think Alex can wait until you actually join the gang before we properly reunite."

"What?"

"I'm sticking with you and making sure you don't get yourself killed. Alex will be fine, he's got Renamon and the others to protect him, plus, he needs more independence, he can't lean on me forever, now can he?"

"If you'd rather be with your brother, then go ahead, I don't need you."

"But I don't want you to be alone."

"I'll be fine."

"I'm not saying that you won't be, physically at least. You'll be lonely."

Lonely.

That one word, the one thing that no one else ever seemed to notice about Koji before, hit him as hard as a punch to the stomach would.

"Wha… What did you say?" He asked, turning to the brunette.

"You'd be lonely without me or somebody else around and I don't want you to feel like that. I've been lonely before and I know it hurts, so I won't let you be alone." She stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Koji stared at the grinning Jade, silently wondering if this was an illusion or if he had gone mad, but she just continued to grin her childish grin, not an ounce of forced or fake happiness in that face of hers at all.

Then, he lost it.

Koji went to pull her into a hug, one he planned on putting all of his effort into, making sure that Jade didn't leave him, making sure she was actually here, right now. But stopped himself before he could.

Almost. Then he almost lost it, but was able to regain control of himself.

There was no way he'd ever be able to hug her. Not over something as trivial as words. So, instead he just passed off his attempt to hug her as a ruffling of the head, making Jade look at him questioningly, before a grin appeared on her face. One that made Koji realize she had a plan up her sleeve, one he probably wasn't going to like. Shivering slightly in fear, the Warrior of Light pulled his hand away from the head of the Warrior of Chaos, turning around and blushing slightly.

Why the hell had he even wanted to hug her in the first place?! She just said an ordinary word, it wasn't anything special! And yet… he had wanted to hug her and be hugged back. And he still did. Oh, God, what the Hell had she done to him?

Jade's smile softened and she gripped his shoulders, turning him the raven-head around so he was facing her. The brunette wrapped her arms around his shoulders, patting his back softly, to let him know she was right here, as if able to read his thoughts and know exactly what he had been about to do. Though surprised, Koji sighed and hugged the girl back, placing his arms around her waist and just letting the moment happen, not aware of the fact he was smiling slightly like a dork.

"Jay… Thank you." Koji whispered softly near her ear, since his head was resting on her shoulder.

Jade smiled and hugged him a bit tighter, saying honestly by his ear, "No problem… Ko."

And the two stayed like that for a while, neither wanting to break the Human contact between them. Human contact they had both been lacking…

And needing desperately, though neither of them would ever admit that.

* * *

A few moments ago, back with Alex and his side of the gang, as they watched Koji walk off, Jade sighed, turning to her brother.

"Al, I-" She began, only to be cut off by Alex, who smiled in understanding.

"I know, sis. I got Renamon to take care of me, but he's got no one. Make sure he'll be okay." He encouraged.

Jade smiled at her brother and gave him a brief hug, before running off into the forest where Koji had disappeared.

When he was sure his sister was gone, Alex's face broke into a massive grin, "Oh, she is soooo totally into him."

"What do you mean, Alex? And didn't you say yesterday that Jade was in love with this John character?" Renamon questioned, making Alex simply wave the back of his hand.

"Renamon, Renamon, Renamon, you have a lot to learn about Humans."

"Well, can you at least explain this part about your sister to me?"

"Certainly. Jade may act all happy and cheerful, a little bit on the innocent side, too, but she's seen her fair share of demons and isn't a little kid anymore because of them. So, she can tell that Mr. Tall, Dark and Anti-Social has a lot of demons he'd rather face on his own, but Jade won't let that happen because she can't stand it when people are suffering. Especially those she's close to."

"So, she wishes to help a friend heal from the scars of his past? How does that indicate that she's 'soooo totally into him' as you put it? And I ask again, you already said she likes someone else."

"To answer your first question: If Jade left me alone to help this guy, then he is **very** special to her. To answer your second question: A Human can like 2 people at the same time, some Humans have been known to start relationships with two people at the same time."

"I thought that was called 'cheating'?"

"It's only cheating if the two people don't know or approve of the idea of sharing the person they're dating. What I was referring to is called a 3-way-couple."

"How do you know about this stuff?!" Zoe asked, a little bit frightened.

I mean, a 10-year-old was spouting about 3-ways, cheating and stuff like that as if he actually knew what he was talking about. That scared Zoe a bit when she thought about it.

"My uncle isn't the Master of Love or the head of his own Host club for no reason. I'm his second successor for good reasons, too, one of them being he taught me everything I know until I was 6-years-old." Alex explained as if it was no big deal.

JP's and Zoe's eyes widened in surprise and slight horror and their jaws drop to the floor. Who the Hell was this monster who ruined his 6-year-old nephew's mind?! Bokomon rolled his eyes at the pointless banter and attempted to bring them back to the matter at hand by stating, "This isn't quite right."

"What do you mean, Bokomon?" Alex asked, curiously.

"Breezy Village is known for its spectacular view of lush forests and greenery, but there's not much to see." Bokomon explained, a sign crumbling as he said that.

"Spectacular view," JP questioned, "of what, a dump?"

Zoe ran off, Alex and Renamon following her closely, JP calling after them, "Uh, let's check it out, Z, Al."

Feeling his D-tector starting to pulse, JP pulled it out of his pocket to see it reacting to something, "Oh wow, my D-tector's doing something." A smile broke out on his face when a thought struck him, "Maybe my Spirit is somewhere close by!"

Zoe started running up some stairs in the tree, Alex and Renamon still hot on her heals, "From up here, I can get a better idea of where we are!"

"That would make sense, Zoe." He agreed, blonde hair swaying as he nodded his head and ran a bit faster to keep up with the other blonde, Renamon following her partner closely.

As they neared the exit, the gang stopped on the branch, amazed at the view they saw.

"Bella! What a view!" Zoe called out, impressed with the sights she could see.

"If 'Bella' means impressive, I agree, Zoe!" Alex stated, staring at the world underneath him.

Indeed, it was impressive. Zoe, Alex and Renamon could see for miles around the wonderful greenery they were surrounded with. In the distance, the blondes could see what Alex assumed were birds flying and stunning wispy clouds.

"Smell that air." The female blonde sighed, taking in a deep breath with her arms stretched out.

Alex did as she said and indeed, the air was amazing, "It smells like sugar," he stuck out his tongue, licking plane air and then bringing it back into his mouth, grinning as he added, "and it tastes like sugar, too!"

Zoe giggled a little bit nervously, thinking, "_He's so weird. One minute he's a little kid, the next he's the nephew of the 'Master of Love', after that he's as smart as an ass and then he's just random. I can't figure him out at all._"

Renamon smiled at her partner, thinking to herself, "_He's such an interesting and free Human. I'm glad he's my partner. I don't think I could have asked for someone better to be with._"

"Come on, Ren, enjoy the air!" Alex encouraged, copying Zoe's pose.

Renamon chuckled and copied her partner, the winds ruffling her fur, especially the mane around her neck. The male blonde smiled at the sight of his partner enjoying herself and the wind with him, feeling his heartbeat quicken as a thought struck him, "_She's so beautiful, I don't think even Uncle Atty could describe her._"

"Zoe! Al! Ren! My D-tector; it's flashing!" JP yelled as he ran up the stairs to catch up to the blondes.

The trio of yellow-haired creatures turned their heads, Zoe slipping on the edge of the branch she was standing on and falling, everyone gasping and turning around, calling out in alarm, "ZOE!"

They saw the blonde fall down, through the branches and then land on the root, sliding down it rather quickly. Alex turned and made a beeline for the stairs, hoping to make it in time to catch her, muttering to himself, "Hang on, Z, I'm coming as fast as I can."

Renamon turned and followed her partner, hoping the same thing as he did.

When they got to where they thought Zoe landed, they were surprised to see a bunch of lizard-like Digimon with red flower buds for heads had caught her, giggling and squealing amongst each other while Zoe blinked in mild surprise. Alex took out his D-3 and scanned the Digimon.

"Floramon. Rookie Level, Data type and her attacks include Rain of Pollen and Stamen Rope. The petals on her head act like a shield in battle and despite her Digivolving like a reptile, she is classified as a plant Digimon." He read.

Renamon let a small smile of amusement appear on her face, "This should be interesting."

* * *

Meanwhile with Koji and Jade, the two were walking in the forest, practically attacked at the hip and occasionally brushing the back of their hands together, a small smile ever present on Koji's lips and a random giggle escaping Jade's lips a few times.

Suddenly, their D-tectors started acting up, making the duo pull them out of their pockets and return to being serious.

"Is this a Spirit?" Koji asked, staring at his D-tector as if it would answer him.

"I have a feeling it's actually trouble." Jade stated, her mind wondering to her little brother and making her bit her lip in worry, "Al…"

Seeing the concern on her face, Koji placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze and gaining her attention. The bandanna-headed boy smiled at her, slightly.

"Don't worry about it, Jay. He has Renamon, Zoe and JP there with him, plus Bokomon and Neemon and who knows, maybe one of them got their Spirit since the last time we saw them." He reasoned with her, never faulting.

"Oh and since when were you so positive, Mr. Warrior of Light who had a stick up his ass the first time I met him?" Jade smiled, teasingly.

"Since I realized I wouldn't be able to get rid of you. I guess you just rubbed off on me since we met."

"Hey, weren't you the one who hugged me?"

"I never hugged you."

"You wanted to."

"I was caught in a moment."

"Yeah, sure you were."

"You are so weird."

"You're weirder!"

"Oh really? And what prof do you have of that, huh?"

"1: You're a emo who's the Warrior of Light. 2: You act like a kid around me and a tough guy around the others, who you've known for just as long as you've known me. 3: You have a ponytail, I know guys with long hair, but none of them ever wore it in a ponytail, not even the Master of Love himself AKA my Uncle."

"1: I'm not an emo, I'm just cold. 2: You have this effect on me, I can't help it. 3: I like my ponytail."

"Still makes you wei-rd!"

"Oh yeah? Well, you're not so normal yourself, Mrs. Warrior of Who-knows,-what."

"I think Bokomon called me the She-Devil. Anyway, what's so weird about me?"

"1: You think it's funny to make guys like me say words related to 'crazy'. 2: You are an 11-year-old girl who acts like a 4-year-old, despite having been through fires, abuse and running away. 3: You refuse to leave me alone, like some creepy stalker or something."

"1: It is funny! 2: Excuse me for having a brother who deserved to still have his childish sister to be there for him. 3: Maybe I am a stalker."

"You freak."

"Takes one to know one."

"Not that line again."

"It's true thought, freak."

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but go ahead."

"Do you feel like being called 'freak' or 'weird' are insults?"

"Hell no, it's how I greet and treat my friends and it's how they treat me back."

"Do your friends actually call you that?"

"Yeah, so do those jerks who think it's wrong to be weird, but those poor bastards have no idea that all they're doing is complimenting me. I sometimes pity their clueless-ness."

"I pity them for not seeing how cool you are."

"Really? Thanks!"

"No problem."

They heard some rustling in the bushes, making them both shut up and freeze instantly, turning their attention to an area where they heard voices.

"So strangers are in the village, aye? That's trouble."

"They're Human children."

"Ahh, you think those whiny-wall flowers called them in to come and help?"

"Who cares? Nobody can stop the Mushroomon brothers."

Turning to each other, quickly nodding their heads, Koji and Jade made a mad dash for the village, not really knowing where they were going, but hoping they'd make it there in time.

…

Back with Alex, Renamon and the others, they were inside one of the Floramon's huts, since they had been invited to lunch and happily accepted.

"How thoughtful of you to invite us for lunch." Zoe smiled at the table she sat at with JP next to her, Renamon and Alex next to him and Neemon and Bokomon on the other end of the table.

"We are extremely grateful for the food. I'm sure it will be delicious." Renamon said, happy that the Floramon were nice Digimon.

"Yeah, thanks." JP agreed, humming, "I wouldn't mind a bowl or 10."

"GIVE ME 20! Please." Alex requested, fluttering his eye-lids and while it would have looked gross on another boy, when Alex did it, the look seemed to work for him and just looked like the cutest thing ever…

Though, Renamon would never say that out-loud. It would sound a bit too unusual for her liking. The Floramon giggled and placed bowls of soup on the table with a few spoons, Zoe being the first to take a sip, making her exclaim in delight, "Moto bono, yum!"

"I beg your pardon, Zoe?" Renamon said, silently wondering what the young blonde Human had said while Alex stuffed his face with the soup, not paying any attention to the world around him.

"Ummm, melted what?" JP questioned.

"Moto bono," Zoe repeated, "it's Italian for 'delicious'; this soup's great!"

The Floramon cheered in happiness, all 10 of them making enough noise to attract even Alex's attention.

"_It must be a lot of noise, then. For him, at least._" Renamon thought, shaking her head softly at Alex's adorable confused face that held the biggest Bambi eyes she'd ever seen.

"I must know, what do you call this?" Zoe pleasantly requested.

"Who cares what it's called? All I want to know is if I can have more!" Alex exclaimed, his tongue falling out of his mouth as he started panting like a puppy.

The Floramon giggled and cooed at his cuteness, Renamon chuckling softly herself.

"You can have as much of our Fram Soup a la Floramon as you like." One Floramon giggled.

"We named it after the method we use to prepare it and if you wouldn't mind, we'd like to demonstrate how we do it." Another Floramon giggled.

All of the Floramon suddenly pulled yellow pears out of thin air.

"To make it," The first Floramon said, "you use your head and a ripe Fram Fruit."

"Oh?" Zoe leaned for in anticipation.

"Umm, use your head?" JP questioned.

Two of the petals on each of their heads opened up and the Plant Digimon placed the fruits inside their heads, closing up their heads as they all got into dance poses.

"2, 3, 4." One said and then they all began to sing.

"_When you take a little fruit and mix it in your skull,_

_You make a most delicious soup, the flavor's never dull._

_We shake our heads, jump both up and down and sing this song quiet cheerful,_

_A little bit of us resides in every yummy spoonful!_"

"And… it's ready! Enjoy." The Floramon giggled and poured their soup into the empty bowls through their noises, making Zoe and JP gross out at it.

"There, it's fresh, eat up." The first Floramon smiled at Zoe and JP but the two refused, Zoe sheepishly waving her hands while JP stuck out his tongue and shook his head.

"I want thirds." Neemon called with a raised hand.

"Delicious." Bokomon agreed, his hand also raised.

"It's brain food." The second Floramon giggled as she poured the soup into the hungry Digimon's bowls.

Renamon smiled and continued eating up her soup, using her spoon.

"I'LL HAVE MORE! Please." Alex exclaimed, fluttering his eyes once again.

"Of course, Al." The first Floramon giggled.

"YAY!" He cheered.

The Floramon all laughed and gave him 2 more bowls worth of the soup, which Alex ate with the table manners of a pig, but no one seemed to mind, it actually made all the Digimon laugh, while Zoe and JP stared at him like he was nuts.

"Dude, how can you eat that? Did you see the demonstration?" JP questioned.

"Dude, for a whole year me and Jade would get to eat out of a trash can if we were lucky. This is nothing! Besides, it's way too good to just leave it, it would be a shame to waste." Alex exclaimed and went right back to eating like a madman.

JP and Zoe stared at him as if he just told them he saw a flying pig.

* * *

"Thanks, that was, great." Zoe said with a bit of difficulty a little later.

After Alex had finished eating like a pig, the others had decided to chill out outside, Zoe to enjoy the breeze, Alex to enjoy the sun and Renamon to keep an eye on Alex. A wind was blowing around them once again, ruffling their clothing. Zoe hummed, "The breeze feels so good."

"It's thanks to our special Mung Tree," The Floramon explained, "the winds filter through the Mung Tree's any branches, cooling all of Breezy Village."

"Wow. This wind is like Hawaii, a vacation paradise in our world." Zoe declared.

"A vacation paradise?" Renamon questioned.

"It's a place that some people like to go to when they aren't working their butts off, Renamon. They're usually really hot places with lots of sun, beach and food." Alex explained, smiling reassuringly at his partner.

"I see." The Yellow Fox nodded.

Zoe smiled at the exchange and then turned to the Floramon who was with them, asking, "Do a lot of visitors come?"

The Floramon looked down sadly, sighing, "Not like before. No one comes to visit our village now."

Alex hummed in confusion.

"So many trains filled with happy travellers made stops here in the past," Floramon began, "our village was a shady, green hamlet. Many visitors came to relax in our lush landscape. Blooming bushes and green plants were spread out all over the station." She glanced down, sadly, "Our village was a perfect park that everyone wanted to see." The plant Digimon glanced towards the female blonde.

"Well, I'd say, that Mung tree still looks good." Zoe stated, honestly.

"Yeah! So is the view from the top, it's so cool!" Alex added, grinning happily.

"And, in my personal opinion, your hospitality was reason enough to come." Renamon added, her stern blue eyes tinted with kindness.

The Floramon looked down, sadly, "Thanks for your kindness, but we know this place looks like a dried-out dump."

Alex hummed in sympathy. He knew what it was like to feel you couldn't make anyone smile anymore because there was something wrong with you or the place you live in…

"Now-"

Rudely snapped from his thoughts by JP and an extra Floramon arriving, Alex shook his head and listened to the second flower Digimon.

"-we're lucky if we see one Trailmon come through here a month." The second Floramon, who Alex decided to call May, added, moving to stand by her fellow Digimon.

"Maybe you should put in a video arcade." JP offered.

The first Floramon, who Alex decided to call Dora, perked up suddenly, "You and your friends are the first tourists we've had here in 4 months."

May and Dora moved so they were standing in front of the 3 Humans and 1 Digimon, Dora stating, "We salute you," bowing right after, with May adding, "We're in indebted to you for your kindness."

"Indebted?" JP, Alex and Renamon asked, slightly clueless to the word.

"Does that mean you're going to charge us?" The heavy-set male asked.

May shook her hands, smiling, "Oh, no, no, no. It means we thank you."

"Your welcome, May, we had a great time here." Alex grinned.

"May?" Everyone repeated in confusion, but all the male blonde did was chuckled nervously and rub the back of his head.

"Ya see, I like giving people nicknames, it's a habit I picked up from my Dad and since every Digimon here seems to be a Floramon, if I wanna talk to just one of you, it might get confusing if I kept calling 'Floramon, can you please come over here!' I bet pretty much everyone in the village, or whoever is available, would come running over, so if it's okay with you guys, I'd like to call you May," Alex explained and pointed at said Digimon, "and you Dora." he then pointed at the other Floramon.

Both of the plant Digimon blushed a little bit.

"Well…" May trailed off, wiggling on the spot and blushing slightly.

"If you want to call us by those nicknames, you can." Dora smiled, her checks turning a faint shade of pink.

Alex grinned at the two Digimon, totally oblivious to the green-monster that was appearing on Renamon's face, stating, "I'm glad you like them, Dora, May!"

The two Floramon giggled while Renamon growled, thinking, "_Why don't I get a nickname? What do they have that I don't, huh?!_"

Suddenly realizing what she had been thinking, the fox almost hit herself. What was she thinking?! It wasn't like she was jealous or anything of those flower girls, she bet they couldn't even fight!

"_Why did it sound like you were, thought? Do you actually like that Human?_" A voice nagged in her head.

"_Shut up!_" She ordered it, hissing and clenching her fist, her face turning from green to scarlet.

There was no way she liked Alex in that way! She didn't even know how it felt to like someone in that way! No way, no how, was there a chance that she liked her partner in that way…

Right?

"Renamon?"

Restraining herself from shaking her head to snap herself out of her thoughts, the fox turned her head to her partner, asking, "What is it, Alex?"

"Why is your face all red? Do you have a fever or something?" He asked and got right up in her face, placing his hand on her forehead and his noise almost touched her noise.

Doing her best to keep her composure, Renamon hesitantly gripped Alex's arm and pulled it from her face, giving a curt chuckle, stating, "I'm fine, Alex, trust me, I am."

"Okay, if you're sure." He said, a bit dumb-found, and pulled back.

"Anyway, back on the topic of Breeze Village and it's lack of tourism…" JP called, gaining everyone's attention back on the topic at hand.

"When you leave here, if you enjoyed your visit, could you please tell everyone that our village is fun to visit?" Dora requested.

Alex nodded, "Sure thing, it's the best place so far in the whole world!"

"You bet. Your soup's great, even if it's different." Zoe added.

"And your hospitality was very much appreciated." Renamon agreed.

Dora smiled, stretching out her arms and saying, "With your help, we just might see the return of trains, visitors and happiness to our Breeze Village."

Zoe then folded her left arm and rested her right elbow in her left hand, placing her chin in her right hand and said, "Even if we tell everyone we meet about your village, you need to do something."

Alex sulked and sweat-dropped, muttering, "That's kinda true."

The female blonde smiled, turned to her side and gestured all around herself, offering, "Plant new flowers."

"Or build a play park for the younger Digimon." Alex added, gesturing to an area where a fair-sized jungle-gym and swing set could be placed.

"We've tried that, but we have a problem!" Dora exclaimed, her soft voice tinted in panic.

Alex and Renamon looked at the duo of Floramon with a raised eye-brow each, noticing May sweating in worry and Dora seemingly angry at the ground, since she was glaring at it.

"_What?_" The partners thought.

That didn't at all seem like the Digimon they had gotten to know a few seconds ago. Whatever this 'problem' was, it sure seemed like something they didn't want it getting out.

"What's the matter, girls?" Alex asked, softly as not to scare them.

"Well, umm, you see, we're just not strong enough to dig in this hard soil, are we?" Dora explained, thought it sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Yes, and digging for plants takes a lot of strength." May added.

Renamon narrowed her eyes, feeling like she was being lied to, but didn't question it or call the Floramon out on it.

"Then let us help!" Alex called, without a second to spare.

The Floramon turned to him in surprise, calling out, "Huh?"

Zoe nodded in agreement, "We can help. I know two strong guys who are just the men for the job."

"Really?" Alex asked, curiously tilting his head, "Who?"

"You're one of them."

"Sweet!"

Dora and May continued to stare at Zoe, who gestured with her eyes who she was talking about. Smiling once they realized who she was on about, the flower Digimon ran over to JP, grabbed his arms and pulled him over, the male protesting slightly with, "Hey, what are you doing?!"

"You have arms like tree-trunks!" Dora gushed.

"You'll be a good digger!" May squealed.

"Me?" JP questioned, tugging his arms away, "no way!"

Seeing that convincing JP to help out might be a slight problem, Alex turned to Zoe to ask her what they should do, but it seemed she already had a plan that she was putting into action. The female blonde turned around, placed the back of her wrists on her hips, winked and tilted her body slightly, stating, "You know what impresses me? Strong guys that help out without even being asked to."

With a sudden desire to 'help the Floramon with their little problem' rising to the surface, JP grinned rather mischievously, pointed at himself and declared, "That's me!"

Renamon and Alex giggled a little bit, seeing that blonde had used her feminine charms to help get her way (which was usually something the boy's uncle would do). Not seeming to notice the pair of yellow haired creatures chuckling, JP made a fist and declared proudly:

"Why, I've got an eyebrow that can jerk 2-50!"

* * *

About an hour later, all the Floramon in the village were working their tails off, running around and gathering soil, planting new trees and flowers. Everything was going swimmingly. But Alex and Renamon weren't helping out in the garden because they were working their tails off on making the Jungle Gym. Speaking off…

"**DIAMOND STORM!**"

Several pieces of wood fell from the sky, cut up into nicely-sized pieces of lumber and were just the right size to make the equipment out of.

"Awesome job, Renamon!" Alex called, running over and kneeling down to pick up a log from the pile, turning to his partner as she landed beside him, "Thanks so much for helping me out with this."

Renamon nodded and went back to finding anymore wood to use while Alex took out some sand paper to smooth it down. Not that it was necessary, but he just wanted to make sure since the last thing he wanted was for the Floramon to get complaints from Mums about their kids having splinters in their fingers.

Once he was satisfied with how much sanding he had done, the blonde boy pocketed the sand paper and pulled out of his pocket a small box of nails and after taking one out to place it in the right area, picked up a rock that was by his feet that he had grabbed earlier and used it as a substitute for a hammer.

The lucky boy never noticed he had a fan-club of the Floramon staring as he worked, all of them giggling about how 'hot and helpful' he was; one even said "He is going to be so sexy when he's older!". However, Renamon noticed and had to physically restrain herself from attacking the plant Digimon for looking at her partner as if he was just a piece of meat. But luckily, her glare was enough to make them leave. With Bokomon and Neemon, the two were being surprisingly helpful for once.

"I should call you 'Miracle Worker'! It's a miracle when you work." Bokomon stated as he stood on top of a barrel of soil that Neemon was pushing.

The Keeper of the Book pointed forward, demanding, "Onward!" but instead the Rabbit of Pants dumped the soil and Bokomon right where they were, making anyone who was watching giggle slightly.

Back with the only Human girl in the group, Zoe was kneeling down, helping May and Dora plant some purple flowers, "There." The blonde turned to her new friends, placed her hands on her knees and said, "If we keep working this place will look fantastic in no time."

The duo sighed, Zoe leaning in and asking in concern, "No?"

"The Mushroomon will wreak it again." Dora muttered, sadly, May nodding her head in silent and upsetting agreement.

* * *

Off in the distance, evil laughing could be heard as 3 shadowed figures approached.

* * *

The blonde titled her head in concern, asking, "Mushroomon?"

* * *

The shadowed figures grew closer, their laughter getting louder with each passing moment.

* * *

Back at the village, Renamon's ears suddenly perked up, as if she had heard something important. Noticing his partner's sudden freeze, Alex turned to her from his hammering with 3 nails in between his teeth, asking, "Something wrong, Renamon?"

"Trouble's coming." The fox stated, making the blonde gasp and drop his 'hammer' and nails, yelling, "We gotta warn the others, come on!"

And off they ran, leaving the Jungle Gym to be completed another time. It was at that moment that the village was suddenly invaded by the sounds of cruel laughter, making everyone turn their heads skywards to see 3 Digimon descending upon them. The new arrivals had purple mushroom-shaped hats with yellow rings, dark pink gloves/boats with leather straps on them and white bodies that looked like mushrooms.

"Nice try," they called, dropping something, "bye-bye!"

When the things (some yellow mushrooms) the trio dropped landed, there was a huge explosion of light that blinded everyone, threw anyone who was near it back (JP being one of those) and destroying all the plants. By this time, Alex and Renamon were standing next to Zoe, shielding their eyes from the attack.

* * *

Back in the forest with Koji and Jade, the duo saw the light of the explosion and gasped.

"ALEXANDER!" Jade screeched and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Jade, wait!" Koji called after her, reaching for the brunette but not getting to her.

The Warrior of Chaos didn't stop running, she had blocked out all the other sounds around her, just to focus on where that explosion happened and how to get there fast, screaming at the top of her lungs:

"ALEX! HANG ON! I'M COMING! ALEX! AAAAALLLLLEEEEEXXXXX!"

* * *

Everyone was coughing up a storm, disorientated and frightened.

"Renamon?" Alex called through his coughs, "are you okay? Are your allergies mucking up?"

The vixen coughed, but shook her head, "I'm fine, Alex. Are you okay?"

"I think so. Where's Zoe and JP?"

"I don't know. I can't see them, the smoke is too thick."

"Hang on, it's beginning to clear up a bit."

True to his words, the skies were clear once again soon which allowed the Floramon and our Heroes to see their attackers once more, who all smirked as they did a 'performance' of some sort.

Brother 1 called, "We are-"

Brother 2 cut in with, "-the Mushroomon-"

Brother 2 finished, "-brothers, yeah!"

Alex pulled out his D-3 and scanned them, their data appearing and making him read it out-loud, "Mushroomon are Vegetation Type, Rookie Level Digimon who attack with their Fungus Crusher, Laughing Smasher, Giggle Grenades and Mushroom Mash. Usually, Mushroomon are ill-tempered creatures and love to bully those who are weaker than them, but they do have a soft side. They use their hats to hide half of their faces when they're feeling shy, which is kinda cute."

"Oh no, not again!" The Floramon all yelled at once.

The Mushroomon brothers cackled, landing on a tree-branch, each, and continuing their little show.

"We thought you understood-" Brother 1, who Alex named Ed, began.

"-that planting trees and flowers-" Brother 2, who Alex named Eddy, continued.

"-is a big waste of time!" Brother 3, who Alex named Edward, finished.

"Please don't wreck all our plants!" Dora begged, holding her arms out in a protective manner.

Ed smirked and his brothers followed his lead, jumping up and throwing down another set of bombs, "**GIGGLE GRENADES!**"

The mushroom bombs exploded and scattered yellow glitter all over all the Digimon and Humans, but it seemed that whatever the stuff was, it only effected the Floramon since as soon as any of it touched their skin, they'd start laughing uncontrollably, causing Zoe, Alex and Renamon to look around in confusion.

"What's so funny, girls?" Alex asked, turning to May and Dora in concern.

"They're in trouble." Zoe added, backing up and standing a bit closer to the boy a year younger than her and the vixen a few feet taller than her.

The troublesome vegetation-Digimon landed on their feet with smirks on their faces, Ed pointing forward, Eddy with his fists at his side and Edward folding his arms like a Boss.

"If you were a Floramon, you'd be laughing, too. Our Giggle Grenades keep them in a good mode." Ed smirked.

"They get so tired from busting their guts that they can't even move, let alone plant stuff!" Eddy laughed, cruelly.

Alex gasped and then narrowed his eyes in a hard glare towards the brothers.

"What did we ever do to you to deserve all this meanness?" Dora laughed, sounding as if she was crying at the same time, "we used to greet the visitors at the station together. Remember?"

Alex and Renamon gasped in their minds. These mushrooms and flowers were work colleges?

"She's right!" May giggled, "in those days, you were some really funny guys!"

"And you," Dora added, tears screaming from her eyes as she added, "Edward, you said that you loved me!"

Alex and Renamon gaped at the statement. Edward and Dora dated?!

"You Floramon were always more popular with the tourists," Ed huffed, "they all liked you better!"

"No matter how hard we tried to please those knocky-headed numb-skulls, they thought that you flower-girls were cuter and nicer than us spore-guys!" Eddy growled.

"And for the record, Dora, I was just lying." Edward finished.

"That's not true. You never lie." Dora called, "They loved you guys, too."

"And your mushroom moose was so popular with the tourists," May giggled, "they liked it better than our soup. I know I did, Eddy. Yours was the best and whenever I asked you about your secret, you said it was made with me in mind. You were always such a commenter, I can't believe I didn't realize you were flirting with me until 3 years after you started."

Once again, Alex was gaping at her. It's took her **3 years** to realize someone was flirting with her?!

"That is enough!" Eddy yelled and threw another bomb, "**MUSHROOM MASH!**"

The attack nearly hit JP if he hadn't been tackled to the ground by Alex and completely obliterated the house behind, them where Bokomon and Neemon were staying. But luckily, they appeared to be unharmed as they ran from the brown smoke. As the Digimon and Humans stared at what could have been their friend, the oldest boy yelled, "They're toasting this place like an English Muffin!"

The Mushroomon brothers landed behind the gang, making everyone turn around, Renamon taking a protective step in front of her partner.

"It's over!" Edward smirked.

Ed landed next, "We've had it with your flower-power!"

Eddy was next, "And we're gonna-"

Edward finished, "-totally flatten Breezy Village."

Renamon grunted and jumped in front of everyone else, standing tall and strong, her paws slowly beginning to glow and she hissed, "Not on my watch, you pathetic garden weeds."

As the Mushroomon and Renamon had a vicious stare down, Bokomon began his theorizing.

"You know, Neemon, Alex," The Keeper of the Book called, gaining the boy's and rabbit's attention, "I'm not a genius," Alex rolled his eyes at that statement, "but I think those Mushroomon brothers have had their attitudes adjusted for the worst by Cherubimon's evil magic!"

"Cherubimon?" Neemon questioned, his arm on the mutant's head, both of them pocking out behind Alex's legs, "Who is that?"

Frustrated and annoyed, Bokomon stepped on his friend's foot and pulled his pants, yelling, "He's a snap: don't think of him twice!"

"Sorry I asked!" The abused rabbit yelped, tears in his eyes and his arms in the air.

"Fool!" The intelligent mutant got up in Neemon's face, his finger pointed at him, "How can someone like Cherubimon ever slip your mind? He's the source of all that's evil in the Digital World!"

Neemon pointed ahead, stating, "She's starting a parade."

Confused, Bokomon and Alex turned and looked in front of them to see the blonde-haired girl stomping towards the Mushroomon, yelling, "Hold it!"

Everyone stared at the blonde in anticipation, an angry look on her face that screamed disapproval. And possibly bodily harm. However, it seemed the Mushroomon didn't get the memo.

"Now you just stand aside, girly!" Ed ordered.

SMACK!

Everyone gasped. Zoe had just slapped the oldest Mushroomon brother. Right across his face.

"_She's dead._" Alex through, sweat-dropping, "_Though, it sure looks like she's got a temper exactly like Mom's. Maybe she's my long lost older sister or something._"

Then he started imagining it.

"_Sissy! Sis!" Alex called, running towards his two sisters._

"_Al!" They called back and hugged him._

_The three held hands and started doing Ring-Around-A-Rosey. Then they bought ice cream from the ice cream truck. They went down to the beach, Alex and Jade being over-protective of the boys who kept staring at their sister. They all ran in front of their parents and everyone hugged each other for the photo, which was taken with a loud clip and a bright flash._

But then he shook his head, laughing, "Nah! There's no way she'd be my sister."

"Al, I don't know what you were thinking about, but I think we need to focus right now." Renamon called, glancing over her shoulder at her partner.

"Oh, right Ren," He nodded and turned his head towards where Zoe and the Mushroomon stood, reaching into his pocket for his D-3 just in case, "be ready to fight. Something tells me, that's what these guys have being looking for."

"Hey now," Eddy yelled while Edward held Ed up, "that's my brother, why'd you slap him?!"

"You need to learn how to get along!" She yelled in their faces.

The 3 brothers stared at her like she was nuts, asking, "Huh?"

"Just because you feel like you're getting the short end of the stick," The blonde began, her arms out in front of her to help her with her speech, "that doesn't give you the right to just start going around, destroying things!" She placed her hands on her hips and sighed, calming herself and finishing with, "Try solving things peacefully."

Thinking this might be his chance to impress the girl, since she very much just impressed him, JP walked forward to help Zoe, yelling at the Mushroomon, "Yeah, now listen up!" He folded his arms and continued his yelling, "You toadstool-heads can't just come barging in here with your purple mushroom caps because they're just plain ugly!" JP turned to Zoe, who now had Renamon and Alex at her side, asking smugly, "Right?"

"Dude, you just insulted them." Alex sighed.

"That's totally wrong." Zoe agreed.

"If you keep that up, one day you're going to get bitch-slapped and no one's gonna do a thing to stop it." Renamon warned.

JP, realizing his mistake, began stuttering nervously and turned to the Mushroomon brothers, who each clenched their fists and Ed said, "You shouldn't have said that, now you're gonna get it."

"CHARGE!" The trio yelled and started chasing the slightly over-weight boy all around the village, making everyone who was watching stare.

"You think we should help him?" Renamon asked.

"He sorta deserved it." Zoe answered.

"If he dies, can I have his chocolate bars?" Alex joked.

"Alex!"

"What? I was kidding, Zoe! You think I'm actually that heartless! We'll help him once he's learned his lesson."

"Just be careful of what you say, someday, it could get you in trouble."

"Will do from now on, Zo-Zo!"

Smiling softly, since she couldn't be mad at him for that long with that smile on his face, the 3 yellow-haired creatures turned their attention towards JP, who was still running away from the angry Mushroomon brothers, who were throwing their bombs at him.

"Hello? Spirit awaken!" The 12-year-old boy yelled/whined as he ran for his life, the bombs exploding right behind him, "Hello, Spirit! Come on!"

The 3 brothers took to the air again, "Nice try," they dropped their bombs, "bye-bye!"

"Evolve! Spirit, come on!" JP begged.

One of the bombs exploded right buy his feet, making the boy do a summer-sault and trip, landing on his shoulders/neck. Alex and Renamon gasped.

"JP!" Zoe screamed.

Suddenly, inside the Mung Tree, a bright sphere of pink light shot out of it, gaining everyone's attention and making them gasp. The light hovered for a moment and then headed towards JP.

"Oh yeah, it's my Spirit!" JP exclaimed. With a smile on his face, the boy got to his feet and held up his D-tector, calling out, "Spirit Evolution!"

The light got bigger and bigger as it neared JP, almost big enough to consume his entire body. While Neemon cheered and leaned forward, Bokomon leaned forward and gasped, "JP is Spirit Evolving!"

While the Mushroomon were gasping and complaining, fearful of what was to come, no one seemed to notice Zoe's hand reaching for her glowing D-tector. The pink light, now identified as a Spirit, went right past JP without a second glance, leaving the heavy-set male standing there, dumb-found. Turning around, everyone gasped as the Spirit flew over to Zoe, the blonde girl pointing it at the Spirit. It stopped in front of her, the light fading to reveal a totem. The totem was that of a girl, curled up in a ball, with wings on her back.

Then it happened once again:

A shadowy image, one of a woman with a visor and butterfly-wings, appeared before Zoe and after the spirit smiled and nodded at the girl, it was downloaded.

"**It is time.**" The woman said.

Zoe stared in wide-eyed wonder.

Suddenly, she was surrounded in Data and while she was within, everyone heard her cry out, "**EXA-CUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!**"

When the Data was gone, Zoe was no longer standing there. Instead, there was a woman with lavender hair, two bangs on each side of her face and a ponytail that went below her knees. A visor over her eyes, the ends of the visors had a butterfly wing each, green triangles on her cheeks, a purple hair-band on her head and she was wearing some rather… revealing purple armor. Her boats lead up from her toes to her thighs, had light green partners, an orange button on the toe of each boat and wings on the ankles. Her gloves were white, had yellow designs, the orange button and wings sprouting from them. On her back were a pair of fairy wings to complete the look, making Alex see that all in all, Zoe looked pretty cool as a Digimon.

"KAZEMON!" The new Digimon yelled.

On the side-lines, JP looked completely torn apart. His eyes shone with sadness at the fact he hadn't found his inner-Digimon and he bit the inside of his lip in frustration, thinking he should have been happy for Zoe instead and glad he wasn't in her outfit. But still, it hurt to find that the Spirit had rejected him. In the end, all he could say, as the star-dust sparkles from the Fairy Digimon's wings danced around the area, was, "Zoe involved instead of me."

Meanwhile everyone was staring at the Fairy Digimon as if she were a gift sent from the heavens above themselves. Circled by a reflection of the sun, her wings glinting in all the colors of the rainbow, even Renamon felt a very small twig of envy in her heart.

"Whoa!" Alex exclaimed in shock and admiration, a grin on his face in rejoice for his friend, "Zoe finally found her inner-Digimon!"

"She's a big butterfly!" Neemon cheered, sounding slightly stupid.

"She not a butterfly." Bokomon said.

Alex looked at the Keeper of the Book in surprise, thinking, "_Wow, he's being unusually calm about thi-_"

That thought was proven wrong when the Mutant Digimon pointed at Kazemon, exclaiming, "She's one of the Legendary Warriors! She had bonded with the Ancient Spirit of the Wind: She's Kazemon!"

Everyone continued to stare at the Warrior of Wind in admiration, everyone else too afraid to talk in case this image of pure beauty would be taken from them for committing the sinful act of speaking. The rainbow-coloured star-dust finally stopped being emitted from the newest Warrior, allowing everyone to look again and see a battle ready fighter.

"Evil creatures, be purified by the wind!" Kazemon declared, appearing ready to fight.

The brothers, no longer impressed, jumped into the air and fired more of their bombs at the Warrior of Wind, calling out, "Nice try, butterfly, bye-bye!"

Suddenly, ten tiny, pink hurricanes appeared on her finger tips and with a yell of "**HURRICANE WAVE!**" the hurricanes were lunched at the bombs, sending them into the sky and causing a large explosion to go off, but luckily no one got hurt this time.

* * *

All the way out in the desert, Takuya and Tommy spotted them and started running, thinking that maybe the others were in trouble.

* * *

The Mushroomon brothers growled at being humiliated like that, Ed hissing, "You pesky insect."

Kazemon just smiled in response. The brothers grew angrier and threw their bombs at her. The Warrior of Wind got on her hands and started spinning really fast, creating a sort of tornado, yelling, "**TEMPEST TWIST!**"

The explosives were destroyed by Kazemon's kick before they could explode and when the brothers landed, she also gave them each a kick to the jaw/head/face.

"Think what she could do with vegetables!" Bokomon exclaimed while Neemon gasped.

The Warrior of Wind finally stopped her spinning.

"And that could have been me!" JP exclaimed in excitement.

Alex nodded, happily, thinking that it would have been cool to see JP kicking some evil Digimon butts, while Renamon felt her stomach turn and flip in on itself, making her want to be sick at the thought, since the idea of JP wearing Kazemon's outfit was something out of a nightmare for her. The courageous butterfly-like Warrior got to her feet and jumped for the air, her wings keeping her in the air. The brothers smirked and jumped again.

"So?" Ed taunted.

"We're not through yet!" Eddy called.

"Revenge time!" Edward exclaimed.

The brothers stood on each other's heads and were wrapped in Data, making Alex and Renamon gasp. Turning to each other, the partners nodded and while Alex pulled out his D-3, Renamon ran to join Kazemon in battle, getting into a fighting stance.

"Digivolve!" Alex yelled.

Renamon nodded, "Right!"

While she was wrapped in Data to become Kyubimon, what was once the Mushroom brothers was unwrapped and everyone could see the new creature that was there. It looked like an old, lifeless tree with blue eyes, a pumpkin smile, 8 limbs (4 roots/legs, 2 small arms under it's mouth and 2 more arms, giant ones that looked like shields). His skin was that of hard-looking bark that appeared to be very strong. The new Digimon roared and slammed his larger arms down on the ground in a threatening manner. Alex gasped and pulled out his D-3, while Bokomon grabbed his book.

"That's Woodmon! A plant-type Digimon who's Branch Bash attack is one of tremendous strength and his bark is like armor." Bokomon explained.

"His other attacks include Woody Smash and Amber Attack, which is when he shoots harden shards of amber from the hole on top of his head. He's a Champion Level, Virus attributed Digimon with a nasty temper and the ability to absorb the energy from other Digimon, like a leach. This looks like it'll be a tough battle, but he does have one weakness, which is fire." Alex explained.

"Fire, huh?" Kyubimon questioned.

She turned her head to face Kazemon, who smiled as the two female Digimon created a plan between them. They nodded and then went into action. Kazemon charged for Woodmon head on, and jumped into the air, calling out, "How about a little, Love Tap?!"

Though Alex wasn't sure if that was a real attack or not, it seemed effective enough when Kazemon bumped her hips with the side of his bark and he got hearts in his eyes, turning into a helpless, lost puppy.

"Kyubimon, you're up!" Kazemon grinned.

"Right!" The fox Digimon called.

While Kazemon jumped out of the way, Kyubimon began running towards Woodmon. She started to spin very fast, which caused the flames on her body to erupt into a fiery inferno. This turned her body into a ball of swirling blue fire.

"**DRAGON WHEEL!**" She shrieked.

A dragon of blue flames emitted from the Fox Digimon's body, and made a lung for Woodmon and unlike Wizardmon, hit him head on, causing the love struck Digimon to snap out of it and scream in pain as the blue flames ate away at him.

Once the attack landed, Kyubimon stopped her spinning and landed behind Woodmon on all fours, smiling the way a fox would always smile.

"Alright!" Alex cheered, jumping into the air, "She got him!"

Kyubimon continued to smile, but then something caught her attention. If she had hit him then…

Where did the smell of burning bark go?

Gasping in shock, Kyubimon turned around only to see that Woodmon had disappeared altogether, there weren't even any ashes left. While Alex and the Floramon, along with JP, Bokomon and Neemon cheered, it appeared only Kazemon noticed Kyubimon's unease.

"Kyubimon, what's the matter?" The Warrior of Wind questioned.

"Something isn't right. Did you see a Fractal Code appear when Woodmon disappeared?" The Fox Digimon questioned.

At the shake of her head, Kazemon also realized the danger was still around, lurking somewhere in the shadows. The two looked around frantically, hopping to spot him before he attacked. A sent caught Kyubimon's nose and she gasped, turning her head towards where Alex was running towards her, ready to celebrate the victory.

"I knew you could do it, Kyubimon, Kazemon!" He laughed as he ran towards them, "I knew it!"

"Al, get down!" Kyubimon ordered and ran towards her partner as fast as she could.

Alex stopped his running to look at his partner in concern, not noticing the cracks that creeped out from under his feet and stretched into his shadow. The cracks that reached his shadow's shoulders grew and suddenly, the ground opened up and a roaring Woodmon burst from the earth, about to squash Alex with his large armor-ish arms.

"NO!" Everyone gasped.

Alex slowly turned around, gasping at the sight of Woodmon's arms about to come down on him. It was all over, there was no way he could survive an attack like that, he was only Human. Alex held his arms over his head to base for impact, a natural Human impulse he couldn't stop even if he wanted to.

"ALEXANDER!"

Gasping at the sound of his full first name and the bone-braking "CRUNCH!" that came with that sound, Alex slowly lowered his arms and gasped. He didn't know how, or why and right now he didn't care. All he knew was that his sister, Jade as Yumon, had somehow arrived on the scene, gotten between Alex and Woodmon in record time, taking the attack directly in his place, it hit her near the bottom of her back, where it looked like she might have broken a bone or two from it.

Everyone was frozen in shock. No one could believe it. No one wanted to believe it. But Jade had appeared and taken the attack for her brother, the one that would have killed both of them if Jade hadn't turned into a Digimon. Grunting and groaning in pain for a few moments, Yumon eventually lost consciousness and was wrapped in Data. She turned back into Jade, a bruised and bloody-lipped Jade, who fell on top of her brother by accident.

"Jade?" Alex whispered softly, trying to catch his sister's attention.

She didn't stir, she didn't even twitch at the call of her name.

"Jadedena?" The blonde tried again, this time shaking her a bit to wake her up.

Still, the brunette lay silent and unmoving. Alex got tears in his eyes and he no longer cared for the world around him. He didn't care that people were staring, he didn't care that Kazemon was gasping with her hand over her mouth at the sight, tears slipping past her visor. All he knew and cared about was the fact that Jade wouldn't wake up, so he did was he felt he needed to do.

He cried. Loudly and dramatically, sobbing and screaming like a baby. Crying out for his dear big sister, who just wouldn't wake up, no matter what he did.

"You…" Kyubimon growled under her breath, her eyes being slightly clouded over with green mist and her voice taking on a masculine taint, "**BASTARD!**"

With that horrible and slightly tainted scream from 'Kyubimon', she resumed her charge at Woodmon again, this time the flames on her body taking on an eerie, greenish taint. Kazemon also charged at Woodmon, uncontrollable rage being seen in her eyes, even though her visor blocked them from view.

First attack went to the female Warrior who arrived first, who happened to be Kazemon. She furiously kicked at Woodmon's side, yelling, "Your bark is much tougher than your bite, you bastard!" and a few other choice curse words and insults which only seemed to annoy the Plant Digimon.

When 'Kyubimon' arrived, she tackled the evil Digimon as far away from Alex as possible, clawing furiously at the Plant-Digimon, her eyes still clouded over. She head-butted him between his eyes several times and kicked him in the eyes, too, but that only seemed to humour him.

Eventually, though, when Kazemon started kicking him again, he got annoyed and swatted Kazemon and 'Kyubimon' away from him, screaming, "ENOUGH!"

Kazemon smirked slightly, happy to see they finally pissed him off enough to say something and she kicked him one more time in the forehead, which made a small hole, while doing a mid-air summer-sault, calling when she righted herself, "Man, am I good!"

'Kyubimon' also smirked, her eyes clouded and she slammed her paw into the mark that Kazemon made and though it sounded as if it half-broke her wrist, she only smirked and went to land right beside Kazemon, her voice tainted as she spoke, "**Not too bad, considering our opponent, doll-face. But, let me show ya what a real Digimon can do.**"

The boys, JP, Bokomon, Neemon and Alex stared on in concern. They had never seen Renamon like that. Sure, it was barley even a day, but something seemed really wrong here. Or rather, something seemed really wrong with her. Hearing groaning, they turned their heads to see Jade slowly fluttering her eyes open. Bringing a hand to her face, she groaned as she brought herself up, wincing slightly when she moved her legs.

"Sister!" Alex yelled and ran to her side, placing his arm around her back to support her, "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

"I see you're doing okay, Brother," Jade chuckled slightly, "you must be okay if you can scream in my ears like that."

"Why are you laughing? You're hurt really badly, Sis." The blonde moaned in concern, whining like a child.

"I'm laughing because I'm so relieved," The brunette covered her eyes with her hand, "that you're alive, Al." Her smile faltered slightly, "If Woodmon had hurt you… Alex, I…" She trailed off, tears slipping past her hand, "I don't know what I would have done."

Alex stared at her in shock. Jade practically never cried. She must have really been scared if she was crying. No. His sister hadn't been scared. She had been absolutely terrified, right down to her soul.

"Sister…" Alex whimpered and hugged her slightly shaking body tight.

Woodmon ignored the siblings as they had their moment, stating, "That actually kinda tickled, my bark's feeling all funny." As Kazemon took a few wing-beets back and 'Kyubimon' went to lung for him again, he continued, "But you see I'm not laughing! There is no escape!** BRANCH BASH!**"

The announcement of the attack and the speed it came hurtling at Kazemon made everyone gasp in shock, the Fox Digimon crying out for her battle partner, "**Kazemon!**"

JP, Neemon and Bokomon, who had run over to Alex to see how Jade was doing, also gasped, the heavy-set male shoving the Digimon out of his way as he cried out, "ZOE!" and ran to her. Kazemon hit the ground, and when she did, she was wrapped in Data much like Yumon was and turned back into Zoe, who lay there on the ground, groaning and barley conscious.

'Kyubimon' growled low in her stomach, her greenish tainted eyes glowing in a dark and predatory kind of way, "**You son of a-**"

The evil Digimon cut her off with a sucker-punch to the face and when he yelled, "**AMBER ATTACKS!**" shards of amber shot out of the hole on the top of his head, like a cannon, and collided with the Fox Digimon's body at point-blank range.

"KYUBIMON!" Everyone screamed, Alex's tea-filled eyes leaking salt water as fast as the tides' flow.

Kyubimon was wrapped in Data and returned to being Renamon, landing right beside Zoe, who gasped and pulled herself up. Wincing as she checked her over, the blonde Human did her best to make sure her friend was okay while the Digimon lay there, coughing slightly. Woodmon laughed, sinister-ly and went to attack the helpless blonde creatures again, screaming, "**BRANCH BASH!**"

"Hey! Cut it out!"

Gasping at the voice, while Zoe got to her feet and jumped just in the nick of time out of the way of the attack and Renamon did the same, Jade turned her head to see...

"KOJI!" She exclaimed in excitement.

Sure enough, the Warrior of Light was on the scene and he was looking mean. He turned his head towards Jade, who didn't seem to notice the trail of blood running down her chin from her lip and gasped. Don't get him wrong, he's okay with the sight of blood, but seeing Jade smiling at him, despite the blood and obvious pain she was in…

Let's just say that Koji found out how it feels to be consumed in an Inferno of Rage. Turning his head to glare at Woodmon, with a quick mutter under his breath of, "You're dead, bastard." he pulled his D-Tector out and yelled, "**EXACUTE! SPIRIT EVALUTION!**"

Smiling at the idea, Jade pushed herself away from her brother and pulled out her D-Tector, "**EXACUTE! SPIRIT EVALUTION!**"

"WHAT?!" Alex gasped.

As the two friends were wrapped in Data and came out at the same time, calling out their Digimon Names, Lobomon looked at Yumon as if she were an idiot.

"You're an idiot! Go rest!" The Warrior of Light ordered.

The Warrior of Chaos just grinned in response, "And miss out on all the fun? I don't think so, Light-Boy."

Growling at the nickname, while she continued to grin, the two turned their heads towards Woodmon. Lobomon sighed, "I really can't argue with you, can I?"

"Not unless you wanna lose." Yumon chuckled.

The two took on a battle stance, Yumon preparing her arm-shield/wing, "Let's show them what happens when Chaos and Light fight as one."

Lobomon nodded and pulled out his Lobo-Kendos, "Right!"

The two charged at Woodmon at the same time, Yumon taking the lead and distracting him while Lobomon went for the kill, attacking him in the same place Kyubimon and Kazemon had, finally creating a crack in the amour-like wood. The two Warriors jumped back, Yumon landing just behind Lobomon, both Digimon impressed with their work, but all Woodmon did was laugh.

"Was that a love tap?!" He taunted through his chuckled.

The two ignored him, Lobomon preparing the gun on his left arm, calling out, "**HOWLING LASER!**" but it passed right by Woodmon.

The Plant-Digimon turned behind him to see Yumon smirking slightly as the Howling Laser swirled inside her wing. She got in a stance when the first mouth of her shield was directed at Woodmon, making her call out, "**HOWLING LASER OF CHAOS!**"

Lobomon's light and an inky, swirling dark light that came from Yumon swirled together as they headed for Woodmon, hitting him directly in the hole in his forehead, cutting right through to the other side.

"Whoa!" Alex exclaimed.

Zoe, Renamon (who had joined the others), JP, Bokomon and Neemon gasped in surprise.

"Obviously you've been taken over by evil!" Lobomon declared, glaring at the Plant-Digimon.

Woodmon glared back at him and this action, ultimately, was the cause of his downfall. The hole in his head had several cracks being created from it, which lead all over his body from his head to his 'toes'. He began to disintegrate somewhat, a picture-perfect look of pure pain and shock edged into his face for his final moments of existence.

"Shadow creature!" Lobomon yelled, holding up Koji's D-Tector, "Be purified by the Light!" He jumped into the air, "Farewell, Woodmon," and moved his arm so his D-Tector was above him, "for good."

Woodmon was surrounded by a ring of Data, his Fractal Code and it was scanned by Lobomon, "FRACTAL CODE: DIGITIZE!"

As soon as their Fractal Code was absorbed, Woodman turned back into the 3 Mushroomon brothers, all appearing dazed and confused. Lobomon and Yumon took a rather large leap back, into the air, and reverted back to their Human-selves.

"Koji, Jade." Zoe gasped.

"Is that all there is to it? Is that it?!" JP exclaimed.

"JADE!" Alex screamed and ran to where his sister was going to land, Renamon limping behind him.

Koji and Jade landed on the ground, labored panting forcing oxygen to escape and enter their lungs in larger amounts than normal. Jade swayed a little bit, but before she could fall to either of her sides, Koji acted on instinct, wrapping an arm over her shoulders to hold her in place.

"Geez," The Warrior of Light groaned, "you don't know how to take it easy, do you?"

The Warrior of Chaos laughed sheepishly, asking, "Is that such a bad thing to get me in trouble?"

"It will one day."

"Not with you."

"Hey!"

Jade only laughed in response, making Koji groan and hit his face. What was he going to do with her?

Then, Alex arrived and hugged, more like glomped, Jade. He cried in rejoice as he hugged her, happy to see she was okay while Renamon smiled at the sight. Jade hugged Alex back and turned her head towards Renamon, giving a nod of thanks. Though puzzled, Renamon returned the nod, but it only made Jade grin.

Suddenly, Koji's D-Tector started beeping. Curiosity taking hold, everyone turned their heads as Koji pressed one of the buttons. Streams of Data came pouring out of the D-Tector around the group.

"**Fractal Code: Rendered.**" The Woman's voice stated.

And as soon as the Data faded, Breezy Village was completely restored. The grass became lushes green, the houses had been returned to their former glory, the Mung Tree had all of it's leaves and life back, giving shade to all of Breezy Village. As the Mushroomon brothers and Floramon mingled with each other again, becoming reacquainted as they rejoiced over the return of their paradise and lovers/friends, Koji and the others looked in with mixed emotions.

"They're all pretty happy thanks to you." Zoe mentioned as she walked over to the others.

She offered Koji her hand, but he just got up on his own, stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked away.

"Ya know, Koji," The blonde called after him, "you could try being friendly." She sighed and placed her hands on her hips, "I don't get him. Why do I try to like a guy who acts like that?"

"But he is being friendly."

Confused, Zoe turned her head to Jade, who had gotten up and was standing beside her.

"With guys like Koji, you need to look at their actions, rather than their words, or lack of words in his case. I should know, I had 2 really close family friends who were, and still are on some level, exactly the same as Koji when they were his age and a little bit older." Jade smiled softly in remembrance of those friends, "If Koji wasn't being friendly, he would've just kept walking and never come here to save you, or me. Just go with it for now. He'll eventually open up a bit more, I'm sure of it, just give him time."

Zoe stared at Jade in admiration. That was amazing and really deep.

"Well," Jade called, snapping Zoe out of her thoughts, "I gotta go. Don't want Koji getting into trouble with me there to help him out, now do we? Ciao!"

With that, the brunette was running after her friend with a smile on her face and a spring in her step, Alex watching with a sigh as his sister left again. Really, he could tell she liked this guy, but did she have to keep following him like a lost puppy? Couldn't she just convince him to join up already?

"_Oh well,_" Alex shrugged his shoulders, "_I'm sure we'll all be seeing each other again soon._"

After all, they were siblings. Ties built upon blood aren't one that can be broken so easily by something as trivial as separation. Both their hearts and their destiny wouldn't allow them to stay apart.

* * *

"I don't care what that Koji thinks, we all made a great team." Zoe huffed a little while later.

Alex nodded, "Diddo to that! You were awesome with your Hurricane Wave and Tempest Twist!" and he turned to his partner, adding, "And you were the coolest with your Dragon Wheel!"

Renamon smiled softly, some bandages wrapped around her left leg which she had been limping on earlier, "Thank you, Alex, but your courage today was also something to be admired."

"Nah, I was totally lame compared to you, Ren. Totally and utterly lame." The male blonde laughed.

"We have returned!"

The group of yellow-haired creatures turned their heads towards the sounds the approaching Tommy and Takuya made as they ran over, JP being ignored and forgotten in the background it seemed.

"You blew it, where were you two?" Zoe puffed.

"Ah, that's quite a story," Takuya began, placing a sheepish hand behind his sheepish head, sheepishly, Tommy using him as support as he got his breath back, "after a while, we thought you might need us, so we decided to check back in."

Zoe grinned proudly, her wrists on her hips as she stated, "No, you made a wrong turn and missed a once in a life time show."

Alex nodded his head, rapidly, in agreement.

"Yeah right, don't try to psych us out, Zoe, you know we didn't miss a thing." The Warrior of Fire chuckled, unbelieving.

"Well you didn't get to see me Spirit Evolve." The Warrior of Wind stated.

"Or watch Renamon kick a tree in his branch!" Alex laughed.

Takuya took his hand from his head, ignoring Alex as he asked, "Wait, you did what?"

"You Spirit Evolved?" Tommy questioned.

At Zoe's nod, the 2 male Warriors turned to each other and laughed.

"Yeah right!"

"Like you could!"

"You really thought we'd believe that!"

With another laughing fest, the two, unknowingly, sealed their coffins. As Zoe stood, not amused with her fists raising, she yelled, "I've had it with you guys! You run off and then you don't think that a girl like me could Spirit Evolve! I'll evolve your heads!"

As the angry blonde started giving the idiotic brunettes some painful 'hugs' around their necks, Alex laughed his socks off while Renamon turned her head to see JP staring off into the clouds.

"What am I, no body? Why don't I have a Spirit? Tell me that." JP lowered his head in sadness and never before, had he ever felt so alone.

"_Poor JP, it's tough being the last one picked, but I bet he doesn't have long to wait, on Digimon: Digital Monsters."_


	5. Ladies & Gentlemon: Bettlemon & Mikemon

**Digimon Frontier-Episode 5: Ladies and Gentlemen: the Beetlemon!**

"_The gang tried to hitch a ride to the Forest Terminal on another Trailmon, but they tickled him right out of the picture. While trying to decide which way to go, Takuya and Zoe had enough Zing fest and the group split up. Zoe, JP, Alex, Renamon, Neemon and Bokomon ended up in Breezy Village. There, the Floramon used their heads to squeeze out some lunch, but the normal kids weren't biting. Then the Mushroomon appeared and bombed them with their Giggle Grenades. When the Fungus Brothers Digivolved to Woodmon, Zoe Spirit Evolved to Kazemon and Renamon Digivolved to Kyubimon. But when the Butterfly and Fox blew it, Lobomon and Yumon showed up and knocked the sap out of 'im!"_

After parting with their friends in Breezy Villager and finishing the Jungle Gym Alex and Renamon had started making, the gang were on their way once more, following the Trailmon tracks, hoping to get to the Forest Terminal shortly. And meet up with Jade and Koji, since the pair had taken off on their own again.

Right now, the gang were on a track that had lead them out of the forest and into a ravine of sorts that over looked the entire woodland area. On a bridge across from them, they could see the Trailmon from earlier, Mole, running along it and laughing at the top of his lungs.

"'I over ate at my last stop' my ass." Alex grumbled as he watched the Pink Trailmon speeding along.

"We can deal with him later. Right now, we have a mission to take care of." Renamon reminded her partner.

The male blonde sighed and nodded to her and with that, the gang were walking towards the ravine again, their heads lowered as a sandy wind blew in the opposite direction.

"Hey cool!" Neemon giggled as some tumble weeds passed him by, "My ears are full of sand!"

"Yes and your head is full of rocks." Bokomon added in, broadly.

Alex had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing.

The gang walked with Takuya in the lead, Zoe behind him, JP behind her, Neemon in front of Tommy, Bokomon behind the youngest in the group and Alex and Renamon as the caboose.

"Wow, I haven't been in a wind this strong since, well, ever." Tommy commented.

Alex nodded, "I didn't know it was even possible for the wind to be this strong."

The gang heard a whistle up ahead and got out of the way just in time so the Trailmon that passed them didn't squish them.

"That was close." Takuya sighed in relief as the carts passed them by, "Oh, why do things in the Digital World always come outta nowhere?"

"What do you mean, 'nowhere'?" Bokomon questioned, "We're walking along Trailmon tracks."

"So?"

"So where there are tracks, there's a Trailmon, it's kind of like the whole fire, smoke thing."

The wind finally died down enough for the gang to see their hands in front of their faces and what they saw shocked them. In front of the gang was a factory with loads of large tubes being sprouted from it and a large tower. On the gate in the front, a sigh said "Wind Factory Corporation" in English and a pair of iron doors.

"Wow! Awesome!" Tommy cheered in awe.

"Well come to Wind Factory Incorporated!" Bokomon introduced, dramatically.

"Wind Factory Incorporated?" Zoe questioned.

"A division of Mother Nature enterprises." Neemon giggled.

Inside the gate, Alex and the gang caught sight of a large group of mechanical Digimon walking in a straight line. They had mostly black bodies with stun-gun shaped heads that held bright red eyes. They had 6 limbs, two of which they were walking on and the other four were at their side, the middle pair of limbs were dwarfed by the other pairs. They looked like a cross between stag beetles and robots.

"Hey, some Digimon." Takuya bluntly stated.

Alex got excited and immediately scanned them, but allowed Bokomon to speak first.

"Kokuwamon, machine Digimon. When they feel threatened, they let out a million bolts of electrical charge. Their special attack is Power Surge." The mini-mutant stated.

"They're also on the Rookie level, Data attribute and despite being weary creatures, they're usually very peaceful. Their other attacks include Assemble Work, Mini Electro Shocker and Mini Scissor Claw. They're not defenseless, but they do prefer to talk instead of fight." Alex added in.

The Kokuwamon at the front tripped and all the others fell on top of him, making Alex and Renamon wince in sympathy.

As Tommy giggled, Bokomon suggested, "Well if there are that many Digimon around, then there must be some food around here somewhere."

"Alright, then let's have us a feast!" Takuya cheered and went running in.

"But Takuya, hold on," JP called, making the other brunette stop, turn to him and walk over.

"Why, what's up?"

"Listen Taky, as long as you're heading out to get some food, would you mind bringing me an order to go with extra everything?"

"What? I'm not the Pizzamon, it's every tummy for itself!"

Takuya went to run with a growl, only to trip and fall flat on his face, the guilty blonde culprit walking ahead of him. JP, Zoe, Tommy, Bokomon and Neemon stared at the boy.

"He's good." Zoe finally said.

"Well, he is paired up with a fox." Bokomon stated as if it were obvious.

Takuya growled as he got up, dirt in his face, "That blonde haired little pretty boy is so dead!"

Zoe laughed as she and the others chased after Takuya, just to make sure he didn't kill Alex. As the kids ran onto the premises of the factory, the sirens on the gate started reacting; they made loud sounds of alarm and flashing red lights of warning. Surprised, everybody stopped dead in their tracks, Alex falling to his knees and gripping his ears and moaning in pain. He _hated_ those things.

Shocked, Renamon fell to one of her knees and asked as she placed a hand on Alex's shoulder, "Al, what's wrong?"

"My, my, ears hurt, Renamon." He whimpered, tears in the corner of his eyes, "Renamon, make it stop, please!"

The image in front of her broke her heart like a knife through hot butter.

"Warning, warning!" Something screamed as it swung in front of Takuya's face as the sirens finally stopped, "A warning from Minomon!"

Now that the noise had stopped, as well as the Digimon's swinging, Alex could look at him and get a chance to see what he looked like. The Minomon had the head of a green chibi caterpillar with a pink blush on it's cheeks and a mouth that covered half it's face. It had big black eyes, tiny arms and ears on it's head that looked like a rabbit's a bit. For a body, the Minomon had a spiky half wall-nut like chrysalis shaped like a triangle pointing downwards.

"Hello there." Neemon greeted with Bokomon standing next to him with his head in The Book and Tommy beside the mutant.

"Are you not listening to me?!" Minomon demanded, insulted, "I said 'warning, warning'!"

"They're Larva Digimon." Bokomon said in a board-sounding voice.

"Warning, no trespassers allowed in the factory! No entry, go home, get out, stop! If you don't head our warning, we will commence our fierce attack!" Minomon declared as two more of his friends came down, "You have now been warned. Stop! What we're trying to say is: GET! OUT!"

Fearing for his life, Takuya backed away and JP grabbed his right elbow, Bokomon, Neemon, Tommy and Zoe stood there staring at the Larva Digimon while Renamon stood protectively in front of her partner, snarling at the Minomon as if they had taken her favorite toy.

"Now would be a really good time for me," JP stated, sweating, "to wait in the car, if we had one."

"Uh, boys." The blonde girl sighed and stepped forwards, smiling kindly and politely at the Minomon trio, "Excuse me, but we're just here for a tour of the factory."

While the three Minomon closed in on each other in a huddle to speak privately, JP crept closer to Zoe, whimpering, "Let's make the first tour stop at the exit door, okay?"

The three Minomon turned around and yelled, "THEN COME ON DOWN!"

Shocked, JP fell down Anime style while Zoe grinned in victory. Alex and Renamon traded glances, shrugged and with that, our gang of heroes were venturing into the unknowns of the factory's facility, not knowing they were being watched by a pair of crystal gold eyes from a shadowed ledge.

* * *

As the kids and Digimon wondered around the factory being led by the Minomon, they were in awe of the high-tech of the facility. They eventually came to a panel that would allow them to see into one of the working areas of the factory and so, they gathered around it and watched, excitedly.

On the other side of the glass, they watched as the Kokuwamon worked together doing tasks from carrying boxes to tinkering with knots and bolts on the conveyor belt and filling up wheelie-creates with what looked like laptops.

"Great," JP muttered, "I love watching other people work."

Renamon stiffened as Bokomon said, "We're not the only ones watching."

It was then that Alex took time to notice that inside the Kokuwamon weren't alone; from the looks of things, they were being supervised by some bulky goblins with clubs. They all had red, spiky hair, pointy ears, tiny green eyes and massive canines. They wore a pale brown loincloth, a black belt and a pale brown open vest. Instantly, he was scanning and reading about them.

"Goblimon: this Ogre Digimon loves being bad and his Special Attack is Goblin Strike." Bokomon read in an alarmed tone.

"He's a Rookie Level Digimon, Virus type Digimon with a sly and hard personality, not caring if they're a Villain's minions or doing their own mischief. Goblimon are known to be very proud of the Mohawk on top of their heads and never disobey a strong Tamer, whatever that is. He only has one other attack: Goburi Bomb. It's a small ball of fire that he throws with his hand, exploding when it makes physical contact with the enemy." Alex explained, reading word-for-word from his D-tector.

The Minomon escorting them lowered itself near Zoe's head, asking, softly, "Are you enjoying the tour?"

Zoe turned around and smiled at the Larva Digimon, Alex mirroring her actions, "Yeah!"

"Do you have any questions?" He asked in his ridiculously high voice.

"Can we slide on this flour on our socks?" Neemon asked, excitedly.

Alex gasped excitedly at the proposal and then turned back to Minomon, "Can we?!"

"If you feel you must, go ahead." Minomon permitted as he swung across the hall.

As Alex cheered and proceeded to take off his boats, grinning and giggling, JP began dancing on the spot and holding his crotch, distressed and embarrassed.

Tommy seemed to be the only one who noticed and was willing to comment on it, "What's wrong?"

"I really need to find a bathroom," The heavy-set male whimpered, "like right now!"

He began dashing down a random hallway and Minomon called after him, "It's on the left."

As JP disappeared down the hallways, Renamon turned her attention back to Alex, who was currently skidding along the hallway in his white socks with blue trains on them, Neemon beside him and both of them cheering, howling and saying challenging things to each other: it looked like a race. She smiled softly.

All her life, she had never met such a pure and innocent person, yet she knew he had faced his fair share of demons; it could be seen in his eyes if you looked deep enough. That didn't count for much, since until about 1 day ago, she had spent her entire life inside a cannon and passing the time by either brawling with the other Candlemon or conversing with her Grandfather.

Her ears sagged slightly; it had only been a day and she already missed them all so much. She had never thought of giving each of the Candlemon a nickname, like Alex had the Floramon, but she remembered every single one of them; their personalities, their battle strategies, their family ties and how good each Candlemon was on terms with each other. She remembered everything.

"Ren?"

Blinking to get her mind out of memory lane and back on the present, she turned her head and saw Alex, now with his boats back on and Neemon pouting in a corner, looking at her in sincere concern. She smiled at her partner and ruffled his hair, affectionately. Alex looked at her with the eyes of an innocent puppy, but she just continued to smile and slowly took her hand from his head.

"I'm fine, Al, really." The yellow fox assured her partner, "Just thinking, that's all."

"About the Candlemon Village?" He questioned. Renamon nodded and he continued, "It's okay to miss your home Renamon, but look on the bright side, we're all here to take care of you!"

At the sight of Alex's massive grin, Renamon felt as if the entire hallway got just a little bit brighter and so, she smiled back, "Of course I do and don't worry, I'll look after you guys too."

"YAY!" Alex cheered and threw his arms around Renamon's shoulders, nuzzling her neck excitedly, "We're all gonna take care of each other like a family!"

The Fox chuckled and wrapped her arms around Alex so he could hold her more comfortably, "That we will, Partner."

Since JP had not come back yet and Takuya was getting frustrated with having to wait around and watch all this mushy stuff going on, he called out down the hall JP had sprinted down earlier, "Hey JP, hurry up; did you fall in?!"

"I'm comin' already!" JP's voice echoed down the halls and then they all saw the chubby teen running their way.

With that, the group were on their way again.

* * *

The next room the group were in appeared to be the heart of the factory. It was a large blue-metallic tower with a few different coloured towers sprouting from it and a conveyor belt at the bottom that lead into the structure, but not out of it.

"This is the backbone of the Wind Factory!" Minomon cheered, "This is where all the latest, ultra, high-tech, super machines are made!"

"So cool!" Tommy declared in a slow and impressed voice.

Alex jumped so he was on his stomach on the railing and looked down at the conveyor belt, "Wow, you're right, Tommy! It is cool!"

Bokomon seemed less than impressed, muttering, "You call that an ultra, high-tech, super machine? Please."

While holding one of the blonde boy's hips to ensure he didn't fall, Renamon peered downwards, only to see on the conveyor belt, "I'm sorry, but what is that?"

"A fan?" Tommy asked, bewildered.

"And an ugly one at that," Zoe grimaced, "I mean, grey is so out."

Alex grinned at his partner excitedly, "Fans are used to produce artificial air to cool people down on hot days back in the human world, or to warm them up sometimes!"

"What's so high-tech about a stupid fan?" JP asked, scowling slightly.

"Hey, it beats a folded piece of paper!" Minomon declared as he swung like a Pendulum, "Now, before we get you some lovely parting gifts," he placed his hands together, eagerly, "are there any questions?"

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered and raised their hands, "Where is the cafeteria?"

* * *

As soon as they saw their lunch, JP, Takuya sweat-dropped and even Alex decided that they couldn't eat it.

They were given batteries. Of all different shapes and sizes. On a plate.

"So, what exactly do you call this?" Zoe asked with her fists to her chin, attempting to remain polite.

"A nine volt omelette?" Neemon questioned.

Alex snorted and giggled despite his hunger. Renamon grinned right alongside him. The others didn't do anything but glare at the two.

"Eat up everybody!" Minomon sang as he came swooping in.

Zoe picked up a battery and prepared a apology, "They're really lovely batteries, but-"

"Oh you'll love them, it's our sheaf's special!" Minomon grinned and directed their attention to the Machine Digimon they had as company, "Just look at the Kokuwamon, they can't get enough!"

Indeed, all the Kokuwamon in the cafeteria were either recharging themselves with the batteries using plugs that sprouted from their shoulders or walking to a table with a small mountain of batteries on their plates.

Neemon, Tommy, Bokomon and Alex watched in amazement and puzzlement.

"Be sure to save room for desert," Minomon leaned in with his hands in front of him connected again, "it's alkaline!"

"We can't eat this stuff!" Takuya and JP declared and tossed the batteries they had in their hands back on their full plates.

Tommy slid in front of the Minomon, asking with a uninterested-but-clearly-interested sort of face, "Say, don't you have any sugary treats lying around, ya know, for special guests?"

Minomon hummed for a moment, "How about a Double A Pie?"

"NO THANKS!" Everyone yelled in his face.

Minomon screamed and swung away. In a shadowy corner of the room, gold eyes glared hard at the organic outsides before disappearing once more into the darkness.

* * *

Once they were out of the Factory, walking with Zoe in front, then Tommy, after Bokomon, Neemon, JP, Alex and then Renamon and Takuya, the only human girl said, "Guys, I'm worried we might have offended the Minomon."

"More than lunch offended us?" Takuya added.

Alex grinned childishly, "At least it was fun while it lasted!"

JP groaned as his stomach rumbled and he stopped, "Can we get back to worrying about our stomachs, Al?"

Seeing an old battery in front of him, Takuya growled and kicked it, "Stupid batteries!"

Alex and Renamon watched in awe as it went flying and then landed on the Trailmon tacks. Two Goblimon turned their attention to the gang at the noise, but Alex just waved innocently while Takuya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Spotting something unusual, Renamon and Zoe glanced behind the Goblimon.

"Hey, what's that?" Zoe asked, curiosity in her voice.

Renamon observed the area a bit closer, "It looks like a settlement of some kind."

"Is 'a building with a fence around it' too obvious an answer?" Bokomon questioned.

Indeed, what they were looking at was both of these things. There was a fence cutting them off from some houses that looked like they were made of red mud, weak stone and rotting wood.

"Let's check it out." Takuya suggested.

"But there are Goblimon Guards there." Alex stated.

Renamon grinned, "That isn't going to stop you though, right?"

"Of course not!" Alex declared, smirking.

Figuring out how to get around the Goblimon and onto the other side of the fence, the gang were shocked to see what they saw. In between the houses were green bags filled with rubbish and large metallic blue barrels of oil. The sun was literally scorching down on Alex's skin and he suspected that in this heat Renamon felt like a cooked fox in all that fur. Left and right, they saw Kokuwamon around them, being forced to stand around in the sun since there was no shade in sight.

As the gang came to a stop, an elderly looking Kokuwamon with a walking stick lumbered towards them and all the other Machine occupants of the village followed his lead.

Takuya started, "So this-"

"is where the Kokuwamon live." Zoe finished.

Neemon, ever the optimist, said, "At least they're out in the sunshine!"

"Yes, where they can sweat and rust." Bokomon, ever the pessimist, argued.

A small gang of what appeared to be children Kokuwamon came up to the gang and looked at them in awe and whispered among each other.

"You're kinda funny looking!" One of the male kids said.

Instantly, the children were bursting into giggles and glancing at each other with their bright ruby red eyes. Alex watched the children exchange glances and then grinned.

"If you think he looks funny," Alex said as he pointed at JP (who glared at him in response), "then take a look at this!"

Alex began pulling every funny face in the book, from pinching his nose and sticking his tongue out while crossing his eyes, to sticking his thumbs in his ears and dancing with his knees apart while wiggling his fingers. The children began giggling harder and soon they were laughing and attempting to copy him.

Smiling at the sweet scene of Alex playing with the Kokuwamon kids, Renamon and the other humans turned their attention to the Kokuwamon elder and the first thing the fox said was, "Greetings, I am Renamon and these are my companions, Takuya, JP, Zoe, Tommy, Bokomon, Neemon and Alex. May I ask why you live here?"

The Kokuwamon elder and the two friends he had at his side, not unlike her Grandfather Mustache, glanced at each other and shook their heads, gesturing to the Goblimon on the other side of the fence who were watching them. Understandingly, Renamon glanced at Alex and then to the Elder, nodding and he nodded back.

With that the gang, minus Alex, and adult Kokuwamon were heading into one of the brick houses, presumably the one that belonged to the Elder to hear the story.

"Where once there was there, there is now here," Elder began with his arms resting on his stick and his two friends on his sides crossed his arms, "which is neither here nor there."

"If I said that made any sense, I'd be lying." Zoe admitted with her head bent slightly to the side as she sat on a tree stump.

"Yeah, I'm lost, too." Tommy agreed from his stump next to Zoe's.

The Kokuwamon on Elder's right stepped forwards and began, "Sorry, my father's charge is a little low these days." Renamon knew Alex would have snorted and giggled at that, "Perhaps our story would make more sense if we begin at the beginning."

Renamon nodded, "Please do."

With that, he continued, "We Kokuwamon lived peacefully in the forest for generations. We played among the trees and had games of Electric Tag. Until one day, without warning, the Goblimon attacked! Wind at the Factory had gotten weaker and energy for the Generator had gotten low, so their leader had us rounded up. They took us all from our beautiful, wooded home and put us to work in the Factory."

"Here, not there." Elder repeated himself.

"Man, that just blows." The Warrior of Ice synthesized with his arms crossed.

The Warrior of Wind, with her hands resting on her thighs, said, "Yeah and everything seemed so normal when we toured the factory."

"I had a feeling something was wrong," JP said to Takuya and glanced guiltily downwards, "my gut told me."

"Great, even your stomach's a know-it-all." The Warrior of Fire grumbled.

"Learning to trust your instincts is a valuable lesson, Takuya. It appears JP has already learned it, but you haven't." The Fox Digimon defended the Spirit-less child.

Instead of scowling at her or JP, Takuya continued, "So, how come they need your labor in such a modern factory?"

The Kokuwamon from before spoke again, "Our labor is more of a bonus to the Goblimon, it is not the main reason that they keep us. You must understand, they would never let you out-siders see what really goes on in there."

"That would make sense." Renamon agreed.

"We Kokuwamon are a timid and cowardly breed by nature, but when we fill threatened, we emit electric currents of up to a 1,000,000 bolts, so they scare us constantly. Sometimes they even pour water on us to short us out and then they use the electricity that we give off on the factory. Or even worst, they hung us upside down so the charge rushes to our heads. And if all that doesn't work, they show us pictures of people's feet! I've gotten so jumpy these days, I feel like there's a Kangarumon in my pants." The Kokuwamon from before stated.

JP had a faraway look on his face as he muttered, "So that was the sound I heard when I came out of the bathroom."

"Scary here!" Elder whimpered.

Then, as JP turned to face them again, the Kokuwamon began venting.

"We're in the factory every day, this really isn't much fun for us."

"It's low pay and hard work!"

"And no vacation."

"Can't go there."

"Well, why don't you just leave?" Tommy questioned.

All the Kokuwamon flinched at that.

"Yeah, it's not like they have you guys in chains, or something."

Everyone screamed in surprise as they saw Alex pop his head through the window.

"Alex!" Renamon said, surprised, "How long were you standing there and where are the children?"

"We've been standing here and listening in since you all went into the house, we heard everything." The blonde boy responded as he climbed in and walked over to his partner.

"I agree with Alex and Tommy, though," JP said with his hands in his pockets, "when the going gets too tough, the really smart ones take off."

Takuya seemed to be offended by this, since he glared at JP with a fist in his pocket yelled, "Are you out of your mind?!" then he got right up in his face with a fist ready to strike, "If they take off, then the Goblimon will track them down and smash them all into tiny, little pieces!"

"Let me guess, Talky," JP shouted back and got up in Takuya's face this time, "you've got some bright idea that they should band together and fight back!"

The two got nose to nose and growled at each other, making Alex sigh at their immaturity.

"Takuya, JP, save the acting like an old married couple when you actually are old and married or at least have girlfriends. Or boyfriends, whatever way you swing." The blonde said, bluntly.

Repulsed, Takuya and JP jumped back from each other, growling as they blushed, "WHAT THE HELL MADE YOU THINK SOMETHING LIKE THAT, I'M NOT GAY!"

While Alex, Zoe, Tommy and all the Digimon burst out laughing, Takuya and JP continued to scowl at the blonde boy, who grinned at them innocently.

Eventually calming down, the Kokuwamon who was always talking, who Alex named Eric, began to speak once more, "We're not really fighters and as for running, we can't because the Goblimon's security is just too tight."

"Not necessarily, boys and girls."

"What?" Eric questioned, "Who said that?!"

"I did."

Turning their attention to a corner in the room, everyone watched as a cat-like Digimon stepped out from the shadows. His fur was white on the under-belly with orange on his back and black stripes. He wore burgundy gloves with grey claws and black straps with buckles to keep them in place. He appeared to be light on his feet despite having a slightly rounded belly and had proud golden eyes.

"Who are you, stranger?" Eric asked.

The cat-like Digimon glared at them slightly, "Does who I am really matter? All you need to know is-"

"His name's Mikemon." Alex interrupted, having already scanned him. "He's a Champion Level, Data Type, Beast Digimon with a normally calm and docile personality and a sense of justice to match that of a knight's. For a little guy, he sure is powerful, his list of attacks including Lightning Paw, Lighting Kick, Cat's Eye Beam, Cay's Hypnosis, Cat Claw Fury, Holy Chime and Neko Punch. He's highly intelligent and a master of Martial Arts."

Mikemon gaped at him, "How did you-"

"He scanned you with his D-3, dude, no harm was done." Takuya said, casually.

Mikemon growled at the both of them, forming a fist with his hand, "Maybe I didn't tell you who I was for a reason!"

"Well, it's too late now, so why not introduce yourself properly and tell us why you're here and what you meant when you said that the security wasn't necessarily tight." Renamon suggested, glaring suspiciously at the Digimon.

Mikemon sighed, regained his famed calm personality and said, "My name is Mikemon, code name Calico. I'm an agent of the DPID: Digimon's Private Investigations Department."

Bokomon gasped and opened up his book, "I've heard of them! The DPID was first assembled by the human girl who worked with the Legendary Warriors, but it wasn't recognized as an official Organization until 550 years ago when the three Celestial Angels declared that all Digimon were equals no matter their Level, Appearance or Classification and any Digimon who did anything to violate this treaty would be found out and punished by the DPID." He looked up from his book in bewilderment, "But DIPD haven't been in action since the Evil Cherubimon appeared, the last national order made by Lord Seraphimon for all agents to assist any Digimon they believed was in danger anyway they could that didn't violate the Laws of the Digital World."

Mikemon nodded, "While that is true, I had been assigned by Lady Ophanimon for a mission before the national order came to pass and no member of the DIPD was ever permitted to give up on a mission even if it cost him or her their life. I had been assigned to investigate rumors of a never reported case of Digimon kidnappings and only a week ago was I able to finally put together enough of the information I had gathered on my own to be sure that the Kokuwamon were in trouble."

Alex stared in awe at the cat Digimon, "Wow, so you're like 007 then!"

"007?" Mikemon questioned, raising an eye-brow at Alex.

"His real name is James Bond, but his code name is 007; he's a British secret agent with his own theme music! It goes like this," Alex proceeded to 'dun-dun-dun' the classical spy music that could only be recognized as the theme tune for James Bond.

The cat Digimon sweat-dropped at that, "He probably isn't a very good secret agent if he has a theme song that plays whenever he's on a mission."

The blonde boy pouted at him, "This coming from the cat who just told a gang of strangers his secret occupation when he could have easily told us his cover."

"I was going to tell all of you anyway since you were new comers to this world and I wanted in on busting the Kokuwamon out of here, too."

"You're still a hypocrite."

"Boys." Renamon cut in sharply, "If you continue this childish argument then I will shock you both."

Gulping, both males backed down (making the human kids snicker).

Clearing his throat as if to get back on track, Mikemon said, "Anyway, back to the matter of how the Kokuwamon get out of here; running or fighting. What will it be, ladies and gents?"

For a moment, the Kokuwamon exchanged uneasy glances and Eric spoke up, "I suppose if we had to choose, we would prefer the running option."

"But if you run now, then you'll never stop running." Takuya brought up, Mikemon nodding in agreement, "The boy is right, Kokuwamon. And even a machine can't run forever."

"But if you fight them, then you'll be free forever!" The Goggle-Head went on, "You won't have to do it alone, we'll all help you beat them!"

One of the children lifted his head in excitement and hope, but then JP stood up and rather roughly placed his hand on Takuya's shoulder, shouting, "Hey, who died and made you the decision guy anyway? What if we don't want any part of this fight, huh?!"

"I'm in." Zoe said as she and Tommy stood up, "Yeah, when do we start."

"I don't know if I'd be able to do much, but I'm willing to give it a go!" Alex declared.

Renamon placed a hand on her partner's shoulder, "If Alex is willing to fight for the Kokuwamon then I am too."

"Excellent!" Bokomon and Neemon cheered, running over behind JP.

Mikemon grinned and stepped forwards slightly to stand next to Elder and Eric, "And I've already stated my reasons for helping you out, besides even if the system is in chaos right now, I'd never leave a mission unfinished."

As the Kokuwamon began to stand up in agreement, starting with the child who Alex named Rhys, JP stubbornly turned his back on everyone.

"Right, let's do it!" Eric cheered as he saw his brethren backing themselves up, "This could be the most important moments of our lives!"

"However short they may be!" Another Kokuwamon added.

"Here, here." Elder wheezed and leaned forwards slightly.

"Well something tells me that those Goblimon are gonna get the shock of their lives!" Takuya joked.

As the Kokuwamon all gathered around the Humans and organic Digimon, JP pouting as he walked off to a corner, Zoe called, "Okay, is everyone ready?"

"Ready when you are!" The Kokuwamon chimed back.

JP scoffed, "Yeah, ready to get ourselves killed."

For a moment, Alex considered scowling at the constantly negative boy, but decided against it instantly. He didn't know a thing about JP's past or why he was acting this way, so why should he be angry at him? While he believed that JP had no right to act like this, he had no right to criticize him over it and so, he wouldn't.

The group watched as Mikemon drew a map of the Facility using one of the pencils and paper that Alex offered him. Taking a wooden box from outside and using it as a table, they placed the map on it and began their planning.

"Okay everyone, listen up." Takuya called.

The murmuring among all the occupants of the room stopped and they did as they were requested.

"We're gonna do this tonight at 1200 hours. First, Zoe, Renamon and Alex will cause a distraction at the front gate, right here." He turned to the mentioned Yellow Haired Trio, "That is, if you can handle it."

"No sweat." Zoe grinned, challengingly.

Renamon nodded but before she could say what was on her mind, Alex read it and spoke up, "Until I somehow learn how to fight effectively, I'm pretty sure I'll just get in the way, so I think I'll just help escort the Kokuwamon out of this place."

The Fox smiled and when the blonde boy smiled back at her, she wasn't expecting his next words, "That's what Renamon would like me to say, but how am I gonna learn if I'm never there on the battle field, so sorry Ren, but you'll be seeing me getting in on this one."

She tried to glare at him in a poor attempt to get him to change his mind, but he just avoided direct eye contact with her and whistled innocently. Sighing in defeat, Renamon hung her head.

"You're way too stubborn, partner." She whispered.

"It's a family trait I picked up, my beloved Warrior of Harmony." He teased back, grinning.

The newly named Warrior of Harmony blushed like wild fire, huffed and turned her head from him.

"Anyway," Takuya trailed off, "the rest of us will move into the factory and wait for the right moment to attack and when the signal comes, we all hit the same target. We destroy the assembly line and that's that! So, what do you say, are you with me?"

"Affirmative!" The Kokuwamon cheered, excitedly with a raised left hand each.

Mikemon nodded his approval, "It seems like a decent enough plan, Human, but what will you do if the boss appears?"

"Umm, well," Takuya sheepishly scratched his cheek, "I guess we'll just beat him up?"

Sighing, the cat Digimon looked at the Human as if he were stupid, "But you're just a bunch of human kids, even the Kokuwamon babies are probably 20 years older than you by your time standards at least. What makes you think you can fight the Goblimon?"

"Because we possess the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors and with them at our side, there's nothing we can't do!" Takuya declared, "I know I'm still new to this world, to being a Digimon and all that other stuff, but I know we can do this if we try."

This caused Mikemon to chuckle, "I'll believe it when I see it, boy, but I will tell you one thing right now: that you're right about being new."

Though a bit puzzled over the statement, it was ignored by JP who declared with his hands behind his head as if he didn't care, "I'm not going!"

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed, shocked.

"Why don't you guys take care of this one and just hauler if you need me?" JP grunted, uncaring, not even facing the gang.

Takuya got behind him and asked rather forcefully, "What are you saying, JP?"

"I'm saying that you guys are on your own." He took his hands from behind his head, turned around and Alex could almost feel the helplessness coming from his eyes, "You don't need me, you probably don't even want me! I can't become a Digimon like you guys!" The brunette's head and angry expression sank into more of a pout-look, "I'm just tall and sweet and cuddly."

"JP…" Alex whispered, softly, "_I had no idea he really felt that way._"

Alex didn't think any less of JP just because he didn't have a Spirit like the others, but maybe that was because he had Renamon instead. But the flip side of that could be JP honestly didn't think of himself as someone who should have a Spirit, but Alex doubted it. Emotions are really weird and he can hardly understand his own as it is already, much less someone else's. So he tried a different technique.

The blonde boy closed his eyes and imagined him in JP's position; in a strange new world with no means to defend himself while everyone else in his… gang of acquaintances, got to tangle with monsters, shoot fire, create winds, black snow, etc. Just thinking about it make Alex feel left out and unwanted, but he wouldn't have said anything; he would have kept it all bottled up until he exploded.

And that's what Alex believed had just happened, now that he somewhat knew how JP must be feeling. He'd been feeling useless and unwanted, hadn't said a thing and now was letting it all out.

Alex then thought about what Jade would do if she were here once he had let it all out; she'd probably hit him and say something like "you idiot, of course you're wanted and needed here and don't you dare tell yourself you deserve anything less because then that would make you a liar and you know I hate lairs!"

Thinking about it made him chuckle and so, Alex opened his mouth to give JP a similar message-

"Man, I will never understand what your problem is!"

-until Takuya decided to open his big, fat, stupid, unfeeling mouth. Idiot! Alex seriously debated standing on that stupid Goggle-Head's toes right now! Or better yet, planting his foot in his face!

"My problem is you," JP practically spat as he got up in the younger boy's face, "trying to make me do what I don't want to!"

Takuya also got up in the older boy's face, "Oh yeah?!"

The two glared at each other and huffed, turning away while Bokomon finally said something intelligent, "You two loud mouths are going to make the Kokuwamon cry."

Then, the Kokuwamon began speaking up.

"We understand what JP is going through."

"You see, before we met you, we never even dreamed of fighting back."

"But you have given us hope and that is something we haven't had in a long time."

"And you have seen how strong we can be if we just believe in ourselves."

"We believe." Elder groaned.

"You do?" Takuya asked, sounded somewhat touched and somewhat astonished.

JP turned around and walked off, muttering, "Believe in yourself? Like it's just that simple."

Stressed out and on the verge of a break down, JP walked over to one of the walls with a window, placed his hands on it and took some deep breaths; ignored as everyone went back to planning. Ignored by all but Alex and Rhys, the blonde watching from the group of chattering Warriors and the baby machine who trotted over to the boy.

"Uhh…mister?" Rhys called, innocently.

JP opened his eyes, took his hands from the wall and turned to look at him. Rhys watched him with hopeful eyes.

"Can you, at least, pretty please protect us while the rest of us get out of the village?" Rhys requested, "Daddy said that he was going to do the fighting while me, Elder and everyone else would escape. Pretty please, will you protect us while we get out?"

JP stared at the innocent child, but the desperate hope in the boy's eyes made his anger crumble away. He caved in, knelled down and smiled at the mechanical boy. The brunette gently placed his hand on Rhys's head and sorta ruffled it.

"Don't worry, little guy," JP soothed, "I'll make sure you, your Daddy and everyone else get out alive, safe and sound."

Eric watched as his young son's face practically lit up in happiness and if his mouth could move properly, he would have smiled; Rhys hadn't smiled once since his mother's death. She had been a brave and beautiful machine Digimon, always trying to take all the scares and abuse for everyone else, trying to protect whoever she could. It eventually became too much for her body to take and after Rhys had Digivolved from MetalKoromon into a Kokuwamon, her body had finally given out on her.

Rhys may have still played with his friends and laughed sometimes, but he had never truly been happy, it could be seen in his eyes and face if one looked close enough. But Eric was determined to win this fight to ensure 3 very important things:

1: His wife's revenge.

2: Their son's happiness.

3: The group's safety.

These were the only things that mattered to Eric and he knew he would make sure these dreams of his would become realities.

* * *

As the sun began to set, JP stood on a hill and watched as it painted the sky a 100 different shades of yellow, pink, blue and scarlet.

"_Why did I get on that stupid train anyway?_" JP questioned himself, "_I can't do anything right in the Digital World._"

"You know feeling useless won't help you out, kid."

Startled, the chubby boy turned around, only to see Mikemon standing there, leaning against the tree behind him.

Scowling, the brunette turned back to the sky, hissing you, "What do you want with me, Mikemon?"

"For one thing, to get up off your pitiful ass and get to work instead." The cat said as he stood next to the boy.

JP scoffed, "Easy for you to say, you're a Digimon with a whole bunch of crazy attack powers. I'm just some big, fat, stupid guy who no one likes and can't do a damn thing to help anyone in this stupid world of yours so why should I even bother trying?"

Mikemon sighed, "If you have an attitude like that and no one who needs you, then yeah. Why should you try if you honestly think you can't do a damn thing? However, you do have people who need you to do your best for them, JP."

"Yeah right, as if Takuya needs anything from me but a chocolate bar."

"That wasn't who I was talking about, kid. I was talking about the Kokuwamon kid, Rhys."

Questioningly turning his head to the cat Digimon, JP watched as Mikemon began his little monologue.

"His grandfather is the Elder, his father's name is Eric and his mother's name was Hannah. She died in this factory and everyone was sure they'd end up in the same position at the end of it all, but then you kids came along and gave them hope. Rhys doesn't deserve to have to lose somebody else he loves and he asked you to look after and promise that they'd all live. And you said you would," During his speech, Mikemon had light what appeared to be a cigarette and took a moment to blow it, "Now you have to keep that promise, so standing around and feeling useless isn't going to help anyone, JP. You have a good pair of legs and a perfectly working body, so why not use them to protect what's important instead of sitting on them and thinking you're so weak when that's not the case?"

Throughout his speech, JP's eyes had widened and he turned back to look at the setting sun.

"_Mikemon's right._" He thought to himself, "_I maybe just a human, not a Digimon, but at least I'm strong enough to walk on my own two feet and have a pair of hands that can help people who need me. So why am I not using them? Why haven't I been using them? Is it because I was so worried about making people like me?_"

Mikemon watched as a light appeared in JP's eyes, like lightening crashing and smirked with his cigarette hanging between his teeth, "_So that's his element, is it?_"

* * *

That night, as the light of the 3 moons shone down on the Digital World, the gang gathered and prepared for a fight.

"Alright, it's go time!" Takuya declared.

"Go!" The Kokuwamon cheered.

With that, the Kokuwamon split up into 2 groups; one had the Elder, women, JP and children in it and another group had the men, Renamon, Bokomon, Neemon, Mikemon, Alex and Spirit Kids ready for battle.

Takuya looked at the members of his group, "Are we ready?"

"Ready!" Everyone yelled.

The Spirit Kids and Renamon ran into different directions, pulled out their D-tectors and declared, "EXECUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!" while Alex raised his D-3 to the air and screamed, "DIGIVOLVE!"

The 4 beings were wrapped in data and when they were revealed, they had become their more powerful forms of Agunimon, Kumamon, Kazemon and Kyubimon. Alex mounted the yellow vixen and with that, they were off, the Kokuwamon, Mikemon, Bokomon and Neemon following behind them while JP and the other Kokuwamon went towards the hills.

* * *

The gates to Wind Factory Incorporated, that were rumored to be strong enough to with stand an attack from Cherubimon, exploded as Kazemon's Hurricane Wave and Kyubimon's Fox Fire Inferno made contact with it. The sirens on the top sang long and loud into the night, making Alex press the left side of his head to his partner's back while covering his exposed ear in an attempt to block out the horrible noise.

"Warning, warning!" 6 Minomon chanted, dropping down from bellow the wailing sirens.

Kazemon stepped forwards and swatted at the Larva Digimon, "Go away, you mouthy pine-cones!"

As they flew into the winds, Kyubimon and Kazemon leaped into the air, Alex clenched his partner's fur tighter as the girls cried out, "**DRAGON WHEEL**/**HURRICANE WAVE**!"

Using their attacks, they destroyed the sirens, much to Alex's relief and caused two more explosions.

"_That auto wake up the neighbors._" Kazemon thought and then called out, "Come out, come out wherever you are."

"Hey!" Alex screamed, "YOU DAMNED GOBLIMON ARE SO WEAK, I BET I COULD KICK ALL YOUR ASSES IN ONE GO!"

The taunts and explosions easily got the Ogre Digimon's attention and with as many of them as possible distracted, Takuya's team swiftly entered the building while JP escorted the women, elderly and children to safety.

Kazemon swiftly kicked two Goblimon's jaws in while Kyubimon elegantly burned some of the Goblimon with her gorgeous blue flames. Alex held on tightly to her fur, half expecting to be enveloped by those hot but caressing blue flames and half expecting to be thrown upside down. He knew she wouldn't let anyone attack him.

Because he had placed his life in her hands, well paws, and he knew she wouldn't let him down.

* * *

Within the factory walls, the Kokuwamon took out what was left of the Goblimon with their Electro Shocker and Power Surge attacks, allowing the gang to bombard right through the corridors. They blew up machinery, broke glass and in general, caused chaos in the once 'peaceful' working place.

Eventually, all the Goblimon remaining in the building were rounded up, placed in the cages that once occupied the Kokuwamon and frozen solid by Kumamon's Crystal Freeze attack.

"Yeah!" Kumamon cheered with a raised hand.

"Alright!" Agunimon yelled as Eric, he, Bokomon, Neemon and Mikemon ran by, "Nice work Kumamon!"

Mikemon grinned at the Warrior of Ice and high-pawed him as he ran past him to catch up with the rest of the group.

"He made Goblimon pops!" Neemon giggled, stupidly.

Mikemon resisted the urge to sweat-drop as he heard the bear behind them calling, "Wait up!"

The gang and the Kokuwamon continued down the hallways until they came to a locked door with a panel. Eric stepped forwards, creating a spark of electricity between his 'fingers', "This should get us past the lock."

Pressing the spark to the panel, it was destroyed and the door opening, with Neemon calling, "Open says me!"

"Next stop, the assembly line." Agunimon muttered as they ran into the dark room.

Suddenly, the lights switched on, showing rows upon rows of Goblimon, each of their clubs held high and their grins purely troublesome.

"I don't like the looks of this." The Keeper of the Book muttered.

Mikemon hissed, "I knew it was too easy." But then he shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well," then he smiled a toothy grin as he brought his paws up, making his claws glint in the light, "it's not a mission if it's not a challenge."

An over powering maniacal laugh entered the gang's ears and they turned their eyes to the sky. Being lowered on a purple crane, was a large, green bug Digimon that looked like a praying mantis. He had sickle-like blades instead of hands and forearms, but no visible eyes on his head. Speaking of, it was covered in red designs and symbols while 6 fairly small dragonfly-like wings sat just above his butt as if they were just for show. He had a large abdomen (the bulb-shaped thing at the end of a bug's body) with black rings around it and 2 pairs of antenna sprouting from his head; one red, one green.

Bokomon, the nerd that he was, already had his book out telling the others about their new friend, "Snimon: This praying mantis Digimon has blades for hands. His special attack is Twin Sickles."

Mikemon pretended to be sick, "He's a Champion level, Vaccine type Digimon with three more attacks in his arsenal called Ultimate Twin Sickle, Slamming Attack and Green Sickle Cut. He also used to be a member of the DPID, until he was exiled for abusing and enslaving the Digimon he would help and asking them for favors. I always had a feeling some scumbag like him was behind this."

The insectoid Digimon laughed as he hopped off his crane, "Well, look what we have here, you destroyed part of my factory, so I'll destroy you!"

He raised his blade to attack Agunimon, who dodged it while Mikemon jumped up and blocked it, snarling at his opponent.

"Oh, is that you, Mikemon?" The evil Digimon asked, excitedly, "I haven't seen you in years, how's things at HQ going?"

"Bugger off, you scumbag," The good Digimon hissed, angered, "You lost the right to call it HQ when you enslaved all those Digimon!"

With a grunt of effort, Mikemon and Snimon broke off the stand-still that had ensured when their claws/blades crossed paths and stood face to face with each other, Mikemon in a pouncing stature and Snimon in a relaxed and arrogant position.

"What's wrong, Calico?" Snimon taunted, "Happy to see me again?"

"Not particularly," Mikemon taunted back, "I mean, who'd ever want to even look at you after what you did to the Rookie level Digimon and what a horrible reputation you gave the DPID that every Digimon used to be so proud of to have. Plus, you really aren't looking very nice with that horrible mask on your face; oh wait, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that was your face. You should really have it redone."

"Laugh all you want, you little Goody-Goody." The insectoid Digimon shot back, "All I know is that you're down there and I'm up here!"

He then proceeded to laugh manically, which only further annoyed the cat Digimon of Justice.

* * *

Meanwhile, with the Girls and Alex, the Goblimon were starting to over-whelm them. By this point, all they could do was dodge attacks and hope for the best.

"There's only 2 of them!" One of the Goblimon called out.

"Once we beat up the boy on that sexy fox's back, let's have a bit of fun with the ladies." Another called.

Scared for themselves and for Alex, the pair jumped into the air and decided on an early retreat. But they weren't gonna get very far.

"**GOBLIN STRIKE!**"

Suddenly, small and annoying fire balls were being thrown at the pair. They weren't nearly enough to stop them, but when Kazemon got body slammed by one and needed Kyubimon and Alex to save her, they all decided that was enough for tonight.

"We gotta run." Alex declared.

Kyubimon nodded, "I know."

Kazemon added, "I just hope we bought Takuya and the others enough time."

Behind them, they heard the Goblimon calling after them and behind them, Alex swore he saw, "JP?"

* * *

As Kumamon was being chased by the Goblimon, Eric attacked the goblin Digimon with his Power Surge, successfully saving him when the young bear Digimon fell to the ground while the three virus Digimon were electrocuted. As this was happening, Bokomon and Neemon were being chased by the Goblimon, but were luckily saved by Agunimon's Pyro Darts.

But the most fearsome battle of all that was happening was the one between Mikemon and Snimon. Though Mikemon was obviously smaller then Snimon and the insectoid Digimon was obviously better equipped for the battle with his larger weapons, the pair were keeping up with each other rather well. Back and forth they went, clashing claws/blades, swiping skin. In the end, the first to draw blood was Snimon when he scratched Mikemon above his eye, making the cat Digimon jump back out of range.

For a moment, the rivals panted, then Mikemon spoke up, not bothering to whip away the blood that dripped over his left eye that left him blind, "You scum, it's pathetic how weak you've gotten. What happened to the good old days when you and I fought like a pair of juveniles?"

Snimon panted, also not bothering to glance at his bleeding right shoulder, "I could say the same to you, Calico. You never used to be this sentimental, even when we were fighting our old masters turned enemies. Is the fact that the world is ending making you weak? Or is it because of your old age?"

"Shut up, you delinquent," Mikemon spat out the blood that had trickled into his mouth and whipped the cut over his eye, "I'm not even close to warming up yet."

"Oh well then," Snimon grinned, sickly, "allow me to turn the heat up."

With that, the pair were at it again.

Meanwhile, Kumamon, Agunimon, Eric, Bokomon and Neemon found themselves cornered. The Goblimon fired at them, but the group managed to avid it; just barely.

"Damn it," Agunimon muttered as he held Bokomon and Neemon in his arms and shot out his Pyro Darts, "there's no end to this."

"Isn't there something we can do for Mikemon?" Kumamon asked, glancing at his Firey comrade.

"I think we should be more worried about doing something about the Goblimon right now." Neemon said, surprisingly calm.

Bokomon nodded to his companion, then turned back to the others, "I'm afraid he's right. We can't do anything for Mikemon right now, so let's just do what we can by helping out the Kokuwamon as they fight with the Goblimon."

Agunimon grit his teeth, "But still… it just makes me feel useless."

Kumamon turned his head and watched as their new friend fought with the insectoid Digimon, "I know what you mean."

Mikemon and Snimon were still going at each other.

Mikemon jumped into the air to do a diving punch, calling as he fell, "**CAT CLAW FURY!**"

Snimon panicked, "Oh no, I'm going to die! You'll delete me if I don't move out of the way, but I'm not nearly as fast as you and even if I do move, you'll just make my death more painful…"

On and on, Snimon blabbed as Mikemon's eyes narrowed, "_Something's wrong, there's no way he'd be this pathetic unless…_" His eyes widened in realization.

Snimon stopped cowering behind his blades and grinned, "Gotcha."

Suddenly, he had appeared behind Mikemon and smashed the DPID member flat onto the wall, his claws stuck in the surface.

"Knew it," The cat muttered as he lifted his head, grunting, "knew it was a trap."

"And you fell for it, which makes it all the better." Snimon laughed in utter glee, "There is no escape for you now, Calico!"

The insectoid Digimon gave a battle cry and went to insert his blade into the cat's stomach, only for him to move out of the way a with a second to spare. Instead, the insectoid Digimon used the blunt of his blade to un-stuck Mikemon and his abdomen to smack him about even more. With a painful yowl, the 'Calico' landed flat on his back, every part of his body hurting like Hell.

"_Damn it,_" He thought, "_I can't move. I always knew I'd get taken out on a mission._"

Snimon's battle cry was the loudest thing in the room, but for Mikemon, all the sounds, the images and feelings all stopped for a second; and he was taken back in time.

To his DPID Academy Days.

* * *

"_**STICKY NET!**__"_

"_**PETTY PUNCH!**__"_

_DING-DONG-DING!_

"_Awww man, practice is over already?" A whiny voice moaned._

_This voice belonged to a puppy-like Digimon with floppy ears, a blushing face and bright golden eyes. His fur was coloured the same way Mikemon's was; this was because this is Mikemon's previous form, Salamon._

"_Looks like it, Calico." Another more timid but humble voice added._

_This was an insectoid Digimon who looked a bit like a bagworm moth larva, only shorter and greener. His claws/feet were purple, he had bright and innocent blue eyes as well as a red design on his forehead. This was Snimon's previous form, Wormmon._

"_I know!" Salamon turned to his previous sparring partner and best friend, "Let's watch the sunset!"_

"_Isn't that supposed to be girly or romantic or something?" Wormmon questioned._

_Salamon scoffed, "Isn't it against the Academy rules to be sexist? That could come off as sexist, ya know? And who cares, it's not like we're gay for each other or anything. And besides, we did it all the time before we came here, so why not do it again?"_

_Wormmon fidgeted nervously, "But, won't we be in trouble if we're caught?"_

"_Not as long as we're in doors by the time the moon comes out," Salamon was already heading for their favorite hill, "come on!"_

"_Oh, alright then." Wormmon waddled after his friend, muttering, "I hope we don't get in trouble."_

_Once they were sat on the hill, Salamon and Wormmon, two good friends, watching the sunset, they felt at ease. While they were both thrilled to be at the Academy, it was always nice to get a break from the strict life there._

"_Hey, Salamon?" Wormmon asked._

"_Uh-huh." Salamon said, letting his friend know of his attention._

"_If I ever do anything wrong, or deviate from this path, can you promise you'll be the one to stop me?"_

"_What?! What are you talking about, there's no way you'd deviate from the path we have going for us with the DPID! You're a freaking saint, man! Why are you suddenly so worried about this?"_

"_Oh, nothing really. I just… had a bad dream that, you were a Mikemon and I was a Snimon and we… we were fighting each other and I…"_

"…_You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."_

"_I… I killed you in that dream. Salamon, I'm really scared that I'll end up doing something wrong and ruining our friendship and I really don't want that to happen because it means so much to me!"_

"_Calm down, Wormmon. Trust me, our friendship means a lot to me to and I know you would never be able to kill me. We're way too close to kill each other."_

"_Even so, Salamon…"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_If I do something wrong… will you promise to kill me if I get out of hand?"_

"… _Only if you promise me the same thing."_

"_What?"_

"_If I ever do something wrong, then you have to kill me. And if you do something wrong, then I'll kill you. It sounds fair, right?"_

"_Okay then."_

"_So, we're agreed?"_

"_Agreed."_

"_But you don't ever have to worry, because a day like that will never come, ever!"_

"_I hope not."_

"_Pessimist."_

"_Over-optimist."_

_The two friends glared at each other for a moment, then chuckled and turned back to the sun, watching as it painted the sky a thousand different shades of pink._

* * *

Mikemon gave a humorless laugh, "So I guess I couldn't keep our promise could I, Wormmon? Some friend I turned out to be."

As Snimon's blades edged ever nearer, Mikemon closed his eyes and resigned to his fate-

CLACK!

-only to be shocked out of his mind when he saw the Warrior of Fire standing before him, keeping Snimon from slicing him in half with his bare hands. His feet tried to dig into the ground as he was pushed back, only to end up scraping on the flour instead.

"Kid!" Mikemon gasped.

"Oh, a brave one, aren't you?" Snimon taunted, "What's your name, boy? Or should I just call you 'lunch meat'?"

"None of your business!" Agunimon grunted with restraint.

"You dare to taunt me?!" Snimon snarled angrily.

Mikemon didn't think, he just acted. He pealed himself from the ground, ran towards the pair, then jumped into the air and body slammed Snimon. Luckily, it worked out since Snimon went tumbling over the railing. Unluckily, Mikemon was falling with him.

Mikemon and Snimon slammed into the crane behind them, leaving the cat to fall and the insect to fly. Agunimon went into a stance, preparing to use one of his own firey attacks-

"TWIN SICKLES!"

-when Snimon unleashed 2 energy blades at the Warrior of Fire. It hit him hard, forcing him to make a rather brutal impact with the wall behind him.

Snimon howled in maniacal joy, "Now I shall destroy all of your little friends, one by one."

When all seemed hopeless, suddenly, one of the cranes started moving; it slammed into Snimon hard enough to trap his blades in the wall, much like Mikemon's had been before. The Goblimon, deciding the danger was too great, began running like Hell to get away from Mikemon, who had somehow crawled out of the hole to chase the little mischief makers away.

"JP!" Kumamon cried in rejoice.

Mikemon turned his head to see the chubby boy from before inside the crane's controls, holding his thumbs up and grinning.

"Quick thinking, buddy!" Agunimon called, then looked down, "Huh?"

Mikemon turned his head to his ex-comrade, only to see Snimon freeing one of his blades and attacking the crane that had offended him; it was sliced into pieces and JP was falling.

"JP?!" Agunimon cried.

As the remains of the crane tumbled down into the place where all the fans went after being made, or crushed Snimon, Mikemon acted fast. While everything around him went to Hell, he gathered up enough speed and as JP fell out of the control panel, he leaped over the void and tackled the kid back to the walk way.

"Thanks, buddy," JP said, "for this and before."

"No problem, kid," Mikemon grinned, "saving people is what I do."

Suddenly, they all heard a beeping sound. Curiously, JP reached into his pocket and pulled out his D-tector to see-

* * *

"WHAT?!"

In the dark of the night, Alex's shocked yell could have been heard for miles around. Never the less, though, Zoe nodded and looked back at her D-tector that had suddenly started flashing after they had met up with the Kokuwamon to rest and recuperate.

"It's true, Alex." Zoe told him, "My D-tector just picked up a new Spirit from the looks of things."

"It would appear that JP's Spirit has finally been found after all." Renamon grinned.

Alex also grinned, "Good, the guy definitely deserves it."

* * *

"Where do you suppose that came from?" Neemon asked as he and the others looked through the bars of the railing at the small statue of what appeared to be a bug with his legs tucked under him.

"The metal around the Spirit must have been too thick for the D-tector to umm…" Bokomon grinned behind his book as the right words came to mind, "detect it."

"This time," JP declared, eyes bright with determination, "that Spirit's gotta be mine."

"Not if you don't get to it first, kid." Mikemon pointed at Snimon, "Look!"

The insectoid Digimon was on the verge of freeing himself from his restraints, making the others gasp.

"We have to get JP to that Spirit, now!" Agunimon said.

Mikemon smirked, "Kokuwamon, you think you can help the kid with that?"

"Absolutely!" Eric and two other Kokuwamon declared.

"Then get flying!"

"Hai!"

With that, they grabbed JP and got him to ground just as Snimon was freeing himself. Like his friends before him, JP gave a battle cry as he took out his D-tector and absorbed the Spirit, "SSSSSSPPPPIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTT!"

"**It is time.**" The woman declared.

JP gasped in nervousness and astonishment.

Like the 5 people before him, JP was surrounded in Data as he roared, "**EXECUTE: SPIRIT EVOLUTION!**"

When the Data disappeared, standing in JP's place was a man about as tall as Agunimon and just as armored, if not more so. His toes, the front of his ankles, knees, elbows, knuckles, chest and a shell on his back were coloured bright yellow while his foot, calf, shin, thigh, hands, forearms and back had dark blue armor protecting him. His shoulders had dark blue over-blown pads on them with spikes lined with bright yellow and the Symbol for Thunder was imprinted on his knees and shell in dark blue. On his wrists were a pair of watches with red circles and a white '+' sign on them. Even his head was armored in blue, only allowing his green eyes to be seen while a horn sprouted from his head. Anyway else was covered in grey, chain-mail like armor, including his mouth and face.

"BEETLEMON!" The newly evolved Digimon cried.

Kumamon, Neemon and Mikemon exclaimed in shock while Agunimon cried, "Look, JP spirit evolved!"

"Yes, to Beetlemon!" Bokomon stated, his nose stuck in his book, "The Warrior of Thunder!"

"I-I can't believe it," Beetlemon stuttered as electricity sparked between his horn points, "I'm Beetlemon!" The Warrior of Thunder began dancing in rejoice on the spot, "I did it! Let's get this party started! HAHAHA-"

"Dance while you can, monkey-boy!" Snimon hissed, sneering at the new arrival, "Soon you'll taste the fury of Snimon!"

"The only thing I wanna taste is a cheese burger with a side of fries!" Beetlemon mocked his opponent.

Snimon gave a battle cry and charged the Legendary Warrior, only for his attack to miss and for Beetlemon to kick him in his lower-back, straight to the ground. Snimon snarled as he got back up, only for a punch in the face to knock him back up again. He attempted to cut through Beetlemon's armour, only for his blades to have no effect. Instead, Beetlemon body slammed him into the wall.

Beetlemon jumped a few paces back and began dancing once more, "Beetlemon: 1, Greed Guy: nothing. Woohoo!"

Enraged by the insult to his pride, Snimon flew in for another attack, only for Beetlemon to out-maneuver him.

The shell on his back opened up as he leaned into the air for a bit of flying and even more taunting, "Missed me!"

Snimon roared in out-rage and started throwing count-less blasts of purple energy from his blades, "**ULTIMATE TWIN SICKLE!**"

However when they collided with the thick armour of the Thunder Warrior, they had no effect what so ever.

"Oh yeah?!" Beetlemon brought his hands to his biceps where they started to glow with yellow electricity, "I call forth-" he raised his hands to the air as they started and stopped with the lightning before finally being shot towards Snimon with a cry of, "the power of-" Snimon charged for the beetle Digimon, "**THUNDER FIST!**"

Beetlemon brought both his hands down on Snimon's head, effectively forcing his body to fall into a state of suspended animation as his Fractal Code appeared.

"Where your power was used for evil," Beetlemon chanted as he took out his D-tector, "let it now be used for good!" a few graceful hand-movements later, Snimon's Fractal Code was being absorbed into the device, "FRACTAL CODE: DIGITIZE!"

With that, the menace of Snimon was no more and his egg floated far, far away, never to be seen here again. The Goblimon, shocked and fearful after seeing their leader's defeat, began running away as fast as possible while all but Mikemon cheered for the destruction of the evil Digimon.

Suddenly, where JP's spirit had once been powering the factory, it appeared that was going to be an explosion. Instantly, everyone was running out of the factory, fearing for their lives.

That night, when they finally got out, the entire building was blasted into smithereens.

* * *

In the morning, the Kokuwamon were all together again, cheering for their success and their new found freedom.

"You can all go back to your real homes now." JP told the group of electrical Digimon.

Rhys stared up at JP as if he was his hero, "I was right to believe in you."

A wind suddenly picked up, sending the annoying little Minomon far away as they gave a final cry of, "Warning, warning! We're getting carried away here!"

Everyone laughed as they disappeared, JP muttering at the end, "Now can we find some food? Please guys?"

Mikemon smiled at the group of humans and Digimon as they had fun and he looked to the sky, "Well, Lady Ophanimon, my mission is complete. So what do I do now?"

Mikemon didn't know why he suddenly felt so empty when he realized this. Usually after a mission, he felt proud and happy because he had managed to protect another group of Digimon in this ever changing and evolving Digital World. But now… what did he have to be proud of?

He hadn't managed to keep his promise to Wormmon, his best friend. He needed a group of out-sider's help to complete a simple mission. And there were no more missions after this since DPID really was gone, along with the world's order. What did he have left to do?

"Hey there, Mikemon, do you wanna travel with us?"

Startled, the cat-Digimon turned his head to see Alex offering him a hand while Renamon stood behind him, both of them smiling.

"Me? Travel with you guys?" Mikemon questioned, unsure he heard right.

Alex nodded, excitedly, "You're an awesome fighter and a good guy, so why not help us help the Digital World?" A sentimental smile appeared on his face as he remembered the Digimon he'd met so far, "All the Digimon I've met here so far have been amazing people in their own ways and I've decided I wanna help them, just like everyone else in our group." Determination flared in his eyes as he spoke his next-line, "I wanna help change this Digital World so it can be a better place for all Digimon!"

Mikemon felt his eyes widen as memories came pouring back to him.

* * *

_An angel-like female Digimon stood before him, her smile kind but her aurora stick, "And why exactly do you want to be a member of the DPID?"_

_A stuttering and shy Salamon that would later become the cool and confident Mikemon tried to control himself, "Be-be-because I… I wanna-"_

"_Speak up, kid, or you'll never get into the academy because we couldn't hear your answer!" A maiden warrior wearing snake skin hissed._

_Salamon gathered himself and finally cried, "Because I wanna help change this Digital World so it can be a better place for all Digimon!"_

* * *

Mikemon came back to the present as he looked at the group of humans and Digimon who were offering him their hand in friendship and combat, along with a renewable sense of purpose.

"You'd make a great addition to the team." Takuya stated.

"I would very much love to learn more about the DPID, if you'd be so kind as to tell me, a lowly civilian Digimon, how everything works there." Bokomon requested.

"I guess we could use as much help as we can get in this new world of yours." Zoe smiled.

"I think you're one of the coolest Digimon ever and it would great to have you travelling with us!" Tommy's eyes practically sparkled.

"I like cats." Neemon said.

"Hey, just make sure you don't go trying to seduce Zoe, okay, she's off limits." JP joked.

"So are Renamon and my sister Jade, who isn't travelling with us right now. But when she comes back, don't lay a hand on her. Or Renamon. Or Zoe. Or me, or you'll be losing a precious piece of your anatomy." Alex threatened.

"It would be nice to have an extra sparring partner to help during training." Renamon added.

Mikemon looked at the group of Humans and Digimon one final time, but then sighed and shrugged, having given up, "I guess it would be rude of me to decline such a generous offer." Then he smiled at them and offered a clawed paw, "Alright, I'll join your rag-tag team for the ride, just make sure to provide me with some entertainment."

Alex nodded and took his paw in a firm grip and shook it, "It's a done deal."

"_Looks like we've got another person to add to our group of heroes and it looks like they'll need all the help they can get. To find out what I mean by that, tune into the next Digimon: Digital Monsters._"


	6. A Mountain out of a Mole Hill

**Digimon Frontier-Episode 6: A Molehill Out of a Mountain**

"_On their way to the Forest Terminal, the gang wound up at Wind Factory Incorporated. There, they met the Kokuwamon, a group of machine Digimon being forced into slavery labor by the Goblimon. So Takuya, with Mikemon's help, came up with a plan to save the little guys. Once the fighting started, they all met the head-honcho Snimon, who turned out to be Mikemon's ex-best friend! Poor JP, being the only one who didn't have a Spirit, felt totally useless. But when the Spirit of Thunder was uncovered, JP jumped at the chance to Spirit Evolve to Beetlemon. He used his Thunder Fist to squash Snimon, like the big old bug that he was and now Mikemon is on the team! Things are gonna get interesting from here on out."_

High above the ground, on a mountain that reached into the sky with the ocean surrounding the island the mountain occupied, Jade thought to herself, "_What a beautiful day it is to be rock climbing. Let's hope it doesn't get ruined by Koji or I tripping or something stupid like that._" The brunette mentally hit herself, "_DAMN IT, YOU JINXED IT, YOU IDIOT! DAMN YOU!_"

Yes indeed, Jade and Koji were climbing the side of the mountain, barely able to cling to the walls and keep their feet on the insanely narrow pathway. All around them, other mountains sprouted out of the ground and were all connected at the top by what appeared to be a normal rope.

"Not that I'm not enjoying the adrenaline rush, but," Jade coughed a little, "remind me again why we're climbing the side of a mountain?"

She had fought herself teeth and nail to keep her mouth shut, but she just couldn't hold her tongue anymore. As much as she was loving the adrenaline rush she felt as she climbed this thing (she'd already learned pretty early on that she was a complete and utter adrenaline junkie, but who gives a damn), there was a lot of fear under the adrenaline. The air up here was harder to breath then it was closer to the ground and she felt like her asthma was starting to act up again.

And while she knew she wouldn't have any attacks this high up and if she or Koji did fall, she could just Digivolve to Yumon and she'd be safe… but Jade was still undeniably scared shitless. Maybe that was why it enthralled her so much.

Koji stayed calm, "We're up here because I thought we could find the Forest Terminal from this height and you said 'I need an adrenaline rush, anyway' as if that was the only thing that would get you climbing these rocks."

She blinked, "I said that?"

"Yes."

"God, I must have sounded like a junkie. And I must sound crazy since I genuinely don't remember it."

"You did sound slightly like a junkie and don't worry; you've already made it pretty clear you're crazy."

"How so?"

Koji stayed quiet and instead kept his response to himself, "_You're hanging out with a friendless loser like me when you should be laughing and smiling with your Brother who is obviously the most important thing in the world to you._"

Jade gave Koji a curious look when she noticed him stop walking; he looked like he was having self-loathing thoughts. So she did what any good friend would do.

TWACK!

"OWW!" Koji exclaimed in shock, covering his forehead, "Why the hell did you do that?!"

"What, you mean the flick on the forehead?" Jade asked, all too innocent, "You looked like you were torturing yourself with self-loathing thoughts and I had to stop it somehow. You're too awesome to be having self-loathing thoughts."

With that, the girl began moving again, leaving Koji shocked and disorientated. How the fuck had she reduced him to a flabbergast brat?! How the fucking hell had she done that?!

Right then and there, Koji decided he simply would never understand her, the crazy chick.

"HELP!"

Startled, the duo of Light and Chaos turned their eyes to the cliffs above them where they'd heard the innocent and soft voice call out.

"Help us!"

"It's hopeless, no one can hear us!"

"You're so negative!"

Koji didn't need to suggest to Jade they investigate; she was already halfway to the ledge just as he was turning his head towards her. Damn girl was fast, he'd give her that much.

By the time he'd caught up to her, Jade had finished hauling herself up into the cave and turned around, grabbing the back of his jacket to help haul him up as well. He noticed her breathing had become a little bit shallow once she'd taken the time to stop and breath. That didn't sound good.

But she wouldn't want him dotting on her when someone needed help. Naive, selfless brat.

Koji turned his head to the end of the cave to see a large second of it was cut off by a bunch of metal bars and behind the metal bars were a large group of female-looking Digimon. They all had pale green, snail-like bodies with pale-pink, purple striped shells on their back as well as long eye-lashes. They were about to his knee in height and they all appeared to be depressed.

"Hello?" The boy called, cautious.

Instantly the Digimon perked up and began muttering.

"A pair of heroes?"

"Quickly, please, you must release us!"

"My son and husband are waiting for me to come home, please!"

"Shush, you'll scare them off, don't be so pushy!"

By then, Jade had gotten her breath back and had made it to the cage. She kneeled before the Digimon and smiled at them, reassuringly.

"Hey, no worries, girls," The brunette gave them a dazzling giggle, "we'll get you out, soon."

After uttering those words, the girl started looking around the cave for a way to either pick the lock or smash it to pieces, Koji at her side and helping her look. Koji found a good sized rock and started hammering at the lock while Jade began scraping at the floor of the cave, as if she was trying to dig a tunnel, uncaring for the dirt that got under her nails. It was just dirt in the end, nothing that would kill her.

Suddenly, before the Digimon could warn them, the duo felt a massive hand grabbing the backs of their jackets and tossing them out the cave, leading to the duo screaming their voices out and reaching out for each other, Jade thinking but one thing:

"_Alex..._"

* * *

Alex sneezed suddenly and whipped his nose with a hanky, "Oh man, someone must be thinking about me or something."

Mikemon raised an eyebrow at the Human, "You sneeze because people think of you?"

"It's something Humans call an old wives' tale," Renamon explained, "a myth or unproven belief in the Human world. There are several others, includin-"

"WHAT?! NO MONEY?! OUT!"

The rest of the gang were thrown out the restaurant Mikemon, Alex and Renamon were standing in front of, quite literally and into a heap. At the restaurant's entrance, a golden coloured beetle-like Digimon glared at the group.

"Please come back," His pleasant attitude melted in under a second, "when you're not just a bunch of dead beets!"

"But we're really hungry and we do have money!" Zoe whined, getting up off the ground and showing the Digimon coins from the Human world, "See, right here!"

The door got slammed shut in front of them, leaving the gang of heroes feeling hopeless and disappointed.

Alex sighed as he took his leg off the wall he'd been leaning on, "No luck, I take it?"

"Gee, ya think?!" Takuya snapped, glaring at the blonde pretty boy; he was so annoying.

Alex glared back, just as annoyed; he was just trying to make conversation, he didn't need to bite his head off! Alex really missed Jade at times like these; his sister was always willing to listen to him no matter what and she didn't talk to him like he was stupid. Unlike most of these jerks.

Bokomon jumped right up to Zoe, eyes alight with curiosity, "You have money; let me see."

Zoe lowered her hand so the Keeper of the Book could see it more clearly. He took the coins right out of her hands and examined them.

"You call this stuff money? Frankly I would have thrown you out of that restaurant, too." He demanded, disappointed and scoffed, tossing the coins everywhere.

Zoe exclaimed in shock and began picking up the coins, offended, while Alex helped her. Bokomon could have been nicer about it. But then again, they were in an entirely different world, it only made sense their Japanese Currency would be worthless here. It would have been practically useless to anyone else outside of Japan in their world, too.

"So," JP asked, "what's money like in the Digital World? If you're so smart, then how do we get our hands on some, huh?"

"Uh, it's simple," Bokomon turned around, a know-it-all smug grin on his face, "stop being so lazy and go to work."

He had a point, Alex thought. Even in the Human World, nothing had been free, he should know.

"You want us kids to work?!" Takuya demanded, outraged, while JP sulked, "That's what an allowance is for!"

"Can't you just lend us some?" Tommy asked, innocent as ever.

"_Sheltered brat._" Alex mentally hissed, "_Try saying that after having been homeless for a few weeks. Let's see how you feel by then._"

Takuya and JP looked at the youngest in the group and then grinned towards Bokomon, yelling with cupped hands, "Yeah, hand it over!"

Bokomon rummaged through his waist-band and pulled out a large green wallet about as big as his beak ("_That's saying something._" Alex thought). All the Humans besides Alex rejoiced at the sight of it. But when Bokomon opened it and turned it upside down, all the came out of it were particles of dust.

"As you can see, I am without funds as well." Bokomon stated.

Everyone who'd gotten excited sulked.

"Now come on you nincompoops, follow me." Bokomon called, and began walking, Neemon ever behind him.

Alex mentally groaned and began walking again, Renamon and Mikemon strutting and scampering alongside him as he followed the Keeper of the Book. But at the sound of groaning and complaining, Alex and the Digimon stopped, Neemon bumping into Bokomon, and then turned around.

"It's time to go!" Bokomon snapped, clearly exasperated.

"That's not going." Neemon chirped, dumbly.

Mikemon sighed, "Renamon, how do you put up with these Humans?"

Renamon also sighed, "To be honest, I have no idea, Mikemon. I guess it's mostly because this is my first time outside of my own home since my birth, as well."

"Then again, I don't think we're being very fair on them." Alex brought up, "They haven't been this hungry even once in their lives, I bet."

The Humans had ignored pretty much everything they'd said and were just complaining.

"We're still hungry!" Zoe cried.

"Yeah, we gotta eat something!" Takuya stated.

"Anything!" Tommy exasperated.

"Hey, Alex," Renamon stated, gaining her partner's attention, "you haven't eaten since our time at the Floramon village, just like the others, right? How come you're not complaining?"

Alex shrugged, "Currently, for me, this is only peckish. Give me three days tops without any food and then I'll start to get hungry." He gave a bitter smile, "Getting used to a painfully empty stomach was the only thing that reminded me I was alive on the days when life on the streets got really bad. Jade was the thing that reminded me to stay alive on the days when it didn't feel like it wasn't even worth the effort, too."

Renamon gave her partner a small smile and took his hand into her paw, squeezing it reassuringly. Alex smiled back, a little less bitter, and squeezed back. Mikemon watched the exchange, fighting an evil laugh; oh, they were all over each other and they didn't even know it, how pathetic was that? Mikemon planned to use this to his advantage, though.

"Hey you guys," JP called, pointing behind Alex and the Digimon, "take a look at that."

Everyone turned their heads to see a sign poking out of an alley, reading-

"Heroes wanted. All your means for free." JP exclaimed, "ROCK SOLID!"

The Humans all perked up, immediately.

"Well, I'm brave enough to eat!" Takuya yelled.

And they charged over towards the sign, nearly trampling Neemon and Bokomon when they ran past them.

"Why would it mention free food if they wanted someone brave?" Alex asked, "Do they need to test some poison on someone?"

Mikemon shrugged, "Who knows kid. Just looks to me like they either didn't think of that or they really don't care."

"I'd go with both options." Renamon stated.

Bokomon and Neemon nodded in agreement.

* * *

Either way, that was how the rag-tag team of Humans and Digimon found themselves hiding in a bunch of bushes beside the Trailmon tracks that were heading into the mouth of a cave. The gang peaked their faces out of the bushes as they heard a whistle going off. Upon getting a look at the Trailmon's face, Alex could identify it was Worm.

"There's the train." Takuya chirped.

"Duh." JP stated.

"Should we hide?" Zoe asked.

No one answered her; they all hid anyway. While in the bushes, the grip Alex had on Renamon's paw tightened just a bit in anticipation; something was about to happen and he didn't know what. It made him uneasy.

"I wish I knew what these guys wanted us to do." Takuya muttered.

"Relax," Zoe encouraged, "I'm sure they have a good plan."

Suddenly, the gang were being yanked along the Trailmon tracks in their dingy, little mining cart, right through the tunnel, the only thing keeping the cart connected to Worm being three, very weak looking ropes.

"I hope all their plans aren't as crazy as this one." Takuya muttered.

Alex looked around in wonder as the snail Digimon from before (the KaratsukiNumemon) crawled along the ropes towards them.

"Well, this is different." Mikemon commented, off-handedly.

"No kidding." Renamon added.

Once they reached them, the KaratsukiNumemon climbed into their cart and told them of their plight. And since they took up so much room in the cart, Neemon and Bokomon had to sit in-between the snails, Alex had to sit practically on Renamon's lap, Mikemon on JP's stomach, Takuya and Zoe practically had to embrace each other and Tommy needed to curl in just for them all to fit. And it was NOT comfortable.

"One day," Dopey the KaratsukiNumemon began (Alex loved naming Digimon), "a mean creature named Grumblemon attacked. We're peaceful, we can't fight him by ourselves."

Takuya nodded.

"He demanded our mountain's Fractal Code," Dipper the KaratsukiNumemon added, "and we told him we don't even know where it is. He thinks we're lying, so that's why we need you heroes."

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA THAT'S BRIGHT!" Worm chanted as they exited the tunnel.

As they traveled along the tracks, Alex caught sight of a large, steep set of mountains that looks like massive, grey trees that had all their leaves and twigs shredded off so there were only either one or two arms sprouting from them.

"Don't worry," Takuya practically chimed, "we'll take care of him. Right guys?"

"Right!" Zoe shouted, determined.

"Hell yeah!" Alex and Mikemon declared, high-fiving.

Renamon chuckled, "But of course."

"I guess." Tommy said with a bit of fear but determination in his voice.

"Whatever." JP agreed, clearly reluctant and uncaring.

"Boys," Zoe called over the sound of the wind rushing past them, "I'm not sure I understand this; why can't he just take the Fractal Code?"

Bokomon gave her a look of disapproval, "We already talked about this!" He raised his hand and pointed a finger to the sky, "As I said, the source of all energy in the Digital World is data. Everything, mountains, rivers, villages; everything that's solid matter is made up of energy, so it has Fractal Code. Only in some places, the Code is out in the open and in some places it's hidden." He frowned at the end, glaring in annoyance, "Try to remember that."

"I'm afraid there's more of our story to tell." All eyes turned to Dopey, "Grumblemon took all of our women, to trade for the mountain's Fractal Code."

Everyone took a more angered or upset body posture at those words.

"That's horrible!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Man, guys can sure be jerks sometimes!" Zoe hissed.

Alex growled, "I hate it when anyone gets mistreated by anyone; it's not fair and it's not right."

"So, that's why you wanted our help?" Renamon inquired, "To save your female companions?"

Dopey nodded, "Yes."

Mikemon grinned, "Easy, I went on a lot of rescue missions during my time as a DPID agent. This should be a piece of cake."

JP raised a fist, "Just leave everything to us!"

All three KaratsukiNumemon bowed then, "We are in your dept. heroes."

JP licked his lips, clapped his hands and smiled, "Now, about that chow-"

"Uh-oh." Neemon called.

JP instantly stopped smiling and a look of confusion appeared on everyone's faces.

"Hold on…" Takuya stressed, "you want us to ride through that? In this?!"

Up in front of them, the Trailmon tracks dropped, did a double loop and then went practically straight up the mountain side. Alex gulped.

Then everybody panicked as Takuya screamed, "ARE YOU SNAILS INSANE?!"

It was way too late to get off, though. Worm plummeted down the hill, causing everyone to start screaming and they all held onto whatever they could. Takuya grabbed Dopey's shell, Zoe held onto the side of the cart, Mikemon grabbed her around her middle, Renamon dug her claws into the truck side, JP grabbed the back of the truck, Tommy wrapped his arms around Alex, Alex clung to the side of the truck and Bokomon and Neemon held onto the front of the truck.

Their screams of terror echoed around the area as they went through the loops and continued on their crazy ride. Worm started heading full speed ahead up the side of the mountain.

"AT LEAST THIS ENSLIDE WILL SLOW US DOWN!" Takuya whaled over the chaos.

"No," Tommy whimpered, "we're speeding up!"

Everyone continued to cry out as half of the group dangled outside of the truck. Up ahead, over his fear, Alex noticed a village plastered to the side of the mountain was coming their way.

"How is this staying on the tracks?!" Takuya panicked.

Mikemon and Alex's eyes widened, "_Dumbass, don't ask that!_"

Dopey, the only one who reminded calm, said in a slow, lazy voice, "Actually, I don't think it is."

Everyone's screaming got that much louder.

* * *

A curve in the tracks and one crash later, good news was, everyone was out of the truck and safe…

"Ugg, that wasn't so bad."

"What's your definition of bad?!"

"Falling off of this cliff!"

"CLIFF?!"

...bad news was everyone was stranded on a piece of fence, unable to climb the practically vertical mountain, clinging on with their arms, legs and even tails wrapped tightly around the wood as Zoe had pointed out in her argument with JP.

Alex didn't think he's felt this scared in ages, how does Jade get off on stuff like this?! His sister was freaking weird!

"Come on, heroes, what are you all waiting for?" (Stupid Freaking) Dopey called, cheery and oblivious.

Alex felt like killing him as he and the others pulled themselves up so they were sitting on the fence rather than clinging to it.

"Are you kidding me?!" JP yelled in frustration that matched Alex's, "Sticking to the side of a mountain might be fine for you guys, but one slip and we're gravel pancakes!"

At the sound of that, everyone made the mistake of looking down and Alex felt himself getting dizzy just looking at it; luckily Renamon had his back. Within a moment, she'd wrapped an arm around his unsteady frame and dug her claws into the side of the mountain, ensuring both their safety and making Alex feel just that little bit better.

He turned around and wrapped an arm around her waist, "Thanks a lot, Ren."

She gave him a small grin, "You're welcome, Partner."

"Yuck, get a room, would you?"

Turning a little pink, Alex turned his head around to glare at Mikemon, hissing, "Oh, shut up, you ass."

Mikemon grinned, teeth showing and simply turned around, calling up to the KaratsukiNumemon, "Hey, Gents! You wouldn't happen to have a ladder or something, right?"

"Actually, we do."

Suddenly, a rope ladder was being rolled down the mountain towards them, which lead off to another rope ladder, which lead into a house.

"Climb up you guys, it's fun." Dopey called down to the group.

JP whinged, "Ohh, I'm learning a bunch of new definitions!"

"Come on." Takuya muttered and started climbing.

Tommy followed soon after, as did Mikemon, Bokomon, Renamon and Neemon, leaving JP, Zoe and Alex as the last ones to come up.

The trio stopped looking up at the others, silently fretting, which gave JP the opportunity to smile at Zoe and gesture to the ladder, "Well, you know what they say, ladies first, so after you."

Both the blondes' eyebrows shot up in surprise, before Zoe frowned at him and Alex snarled.

JP's face was the perfect image of confusion.

Zoe placed her hands on her hips and as JP's eyes trailed down, Alex pointed out the obvious, "She's wearing a skirt, you perverted asshole."

JP tried to defend himself, but it was useless.

"As if you didn't know," Zoe raised her hand, "SICKO!" and slapped him hard.

Alex growled and then clocked JP in the forehead, "ASSHOLE!"

JP whimpered as he started climbing the ladder, while Alex huffed and leaned against the wall, agitated, "Man, he is such an ass! I mean, who does that?!"

"Guys can be such pigs sometimes, Al, I freaking swear!" Zoe ranted, huffing at the end, before sighing and smiling, "Thanks for hitting him for me. It was kinda nice to see a guy finally getting hit by both genders for being a pervert."

Alex smiled at her, "No problem, Zoe, I'll happily do it again any time. I always used to slap around the guys who treated Jade like jewelry or a porn-star a lot, too. But of course, I let my sister do the first blow, she deserved to after all."

Zoe laughed, "Damn right she did. She sure is lucky to have you as a brother."

"I know, right?" Alex grinned, "But to be honest, I always thought I was the lucky one to have someone like her have my back." He frowned a little, sadness seeping into his features, "It feels so unnatural to be without her… I wonder what she's doing now."

Zoe gave a smile of sympathy and patted his head, "Well, wherever she is, until she gets back, I can have your back too, if you want."

"That would be much appreciated, Zoe." Alex chuckled, "Now, we better started climbing, or we're gonna start getting nagged."

Zoe also giggled and gestured to the rope-ladder, "After you."

With one more smile, the blonde boy started climbing the ladder while the lavender princess followed him up.

As they neared the top, they noticed a blockage in the traffic and when they got closer, they heard a voice.

"**You're** the people these guys found to help out?!"

"Kanbara, where's my brother?!"

Gasping at the familiar voice, Alex shoved his way through and when he got into the house, he exclaimed in happiness and delight, "JADE!"

There, standing beside Koji, both of them holding broom-sticks with the broom part removed, was his dearest and one and only sister, Jade. Unharmed, smiling, happy and **alive**.

"ALEX!" She cried, her emotional voice mirroring his own.

"Let me through, let me through!" Alex groaned, shoving his way past the others and using the force of gravity to send him hurtling towards his sister.

She exclaimed in shock when she saw this and caught him just barely, but it was enough. The two of them laughed whole-hearted, safe and happy, both of them joyous to know they were both just alive. Jade was even crying a little and holding him tighter than she normally would when they'd go through something like that.

It made every atom in Alex's body freeze, "What happened?"

Jade also froze, the happy and light atmosphere turning sharp, bitter and cold the second those words left his mouth.

For a moment, Jade didn't speak, "I thought I was going to die today."

Alex tensed up more, clinging to her a bit tighter; Jade did the same.

"And you wanna know what my one regret was? The one thing that kept racing around my head while I plummeted to what I thought would be my death?" Jade's voice and body shook horribly.

The blonde nodded; he needed to know, now.

"I wasn't going to die with you at my side." Jade's voice became sorrowful and tears ran into Alex's hair, "I thought I was going to die without being able to tell you one more time that 'I love you, little brother' all because I was selfish and left you with a bunch of strangers to chase down some guy instead of being the big sister I'm suppose to be. I'm sorry, Al." Her body shook tight with sobs as she buried her eyes in his skull, "I'm sorry, Al. I'm sorry, Alex. I'm sorry, Al. I'm sorry…"

She continued off into intelligible whimpers of his name and a repeated chanting of apologies, all sounding like grease stains on his ears. Alex didn't let go of his sister the entire time, even though her grip had slackened a great deal. He wasn't going to let her go in her moment of need, even if she gave him the option to run. He'd never run from her when she needed him.

Never again would he take the coward's way out like he had back **then**.

Eventually, his sister stopped sniveling and gave a weak chuckle, "I'm okay now, Al. Really." She pulled back and he let her, watching as she dried her tears with her knuckles, "I'm just really glad you're okay, little buddy." She ruffled his head on that sentence, "It's be a total bummer if I were okay and you weren't."

Alex shrugged, "Yeah it would be a total bummer if I wasn't around." He grinned, "I mean, who'd be there to tell your future boyfriends embarrassing stories about our childhood when you finally bring a man home and who'd be there to swear to castrate him if he broke your heart?"

She laughed, the magic word having been said in her favorite context and gave him a little wink, "Same goes for you, if you ever bring a man or a woman home, my dearest brother. I can't die until I do to them what you would do to any of my future, non-existent, romantic partners."

"Non-existent?" Alex snorted, "Pppp-lllllease Jade, don't freaking kid yourself like that." He smirked, "If I weren't your brother, I'd say you're a freaking heart-stopper and with that amazing personality, the only guys who'd be unable to see your awesomeness would have to be blind, deaf and have a walnut for a brain!"

Jade laughed and ruffled his hair again, "Same to you, bro! Same to you!"

The siblings broke into laughter and once again, they knew everything was gonna be okay. They'd talked about the fears and made them go away with their dreams and goals, so now everything was okay and they could keep moving forward. They could keep striving. They could keep trying and fighting and living, until they had nothing left to try, fight or live with. They would keep moving forward now, because it was the only way they could go. And they would take on whatever the Hell the horrible, evil thing called Fate would throw at them and they would damn well own it like pros because that's what they did.

They grabbed the future in one hand, held onto each other in the other and didn't let go no matter what.

Meanwhile, Koji watched the exchange between the two and felt a twig of envy in his heart. Sure, having a sibling or a friend like that would probably mean you'd fight all the time, have a bunch of disagreements and you'd probably complain about each other's bad habits all the time. But seeing how happy Jade was now that her brother was here…

It made Koji feel a bit guilty, too. Because he'd taken her away from the thing that meant the most to her; no matter how often she'd insisted she'd come of her own freewill, no matter how many times she joked about Koji being more important than her brother, no matter how many times she told him she liked his company (he couldn't tell if that was a lie or not because while she sounded so honest and truthful, he couldn't understand why she'd like** his** company, of all the people in the two worlds), it was as clear as glass.

She'd left her brother, the light of her life, the one person who keeps her grounded, someone who she'd gone to Hell and back with...to be with some strange, lonely, loser kid... for no plausible reason that Koji could even begin to come up with because it just **didn't make sense**.

Why would she hang out with him when she had that kid to make her happy?

Just... why?

"Gentlemen and ladies!"

Everyone turned their heads to where the voice came from; it was another KaratsukiNumemon, only this one had a mustache like Renamon's grandfather had. He was clearly the village Elder.

He gave a slight bow of his head and brought his 'arms' forwards, before 'standing' up straight again, "My thanks to all of you for coming to help. And now it's time to eat!"

"ALRIGHT, TIME TO CHOW DOWN!" The group besides Renamon, Mikemon and Alex called.

In their excitement, they forgot to hold onto the walls and much like Alex had done earlier, ended up falling into the house, nearly flattening the ones who'd already gotten inside.

"At least we'll get some free food to make us feel better." JP grumbled in the pile of humans and Digimon.

Renamon and Mikemon, who'd both been sensible and held onto the walls sighed heavily.

These humans were such fools sometimes.

* * *

For dinner, everyone had multi-color cabbages. While everyone else complained…

"Is that what I think it is?" Takuya grimaced.

"I don't know. Looks like rabbit food." JP winced.

Mikemon's eye started violently twitching, "If any of you even **think** of trying to get me to eat that stuff, I will claw out your eyes, cut off your balls and eat those instead."

"What's wrong with rabbit food?" Renamon questioned.

Mikemon's face was the picture of disgust, "I hate rabbits, they taste like shit and you know what they say; 'You are what you eat'. So anything rabbits eat must be shit, too. I refuse to eat that crap."

"At least rabbits get to eat." Zoe scoffed, picking up a red cabbage to the men's surprise, "Here goes nothing." and took a bite out of it… only to smile as she ate it, declaring with a full mouth, "_Moto bono_, dig in. Tastes like steak!"

Surprise showing on all their faces, the boys and Renamon all picked up a cabbage a took a bite, all of them showing surprised happiness on their faces as they ate.

"Mine tastes like chicken!" JP chirped.

"Mines like a potato!" Tommy giggled.

"Fish!" Mikemon exclaimed and went crazy.

Renamon chuckled and simply stated, "Meatloaf." before going back to eating.

"Mines just like asparagus!" Takuya shouted.

"YUCK!" Everyone exclaimed.

"I like asparagus…" He pouted.

...Jade and Alex were already eating their cabbages silently while they sat next to Koji, not interested in the unusual tasting food in the slightest bit, other than the fact it was edible. For a while they'd had to go fishing in garbage cans if they wanted food, so who cares what it tasted like? That was actually something you'd be better off not thinking about, sometimes.

"So, how did they get here?" Takuya questioned.

Elder, the Karatsuki with the mustache, turned towards Takuya, "Oh, they fell from the sky."

Alex choked on his cabbage, spluttering, "You did WHAT?!"

"They fell." Elder stated.

Jade chuckled sheepishly, her cheeks being tainted a vibrant pink as she remembered the screaming, her and Koji hitting the hay pill while they'd been hanging onto each other, getting accused for being lovers by the KaratsukiNumemon and then being asked to rescue their girls who they missed very much.

"It was quite the ordeal, to be honest." She joked, gently elbowing Koji, "Ehh, Koji?"

He gave a grunt of affirmation, not taking his cabbage away from his mouth; there was no way he was going to let them see his cheeks, not when they felt like they were slightly on fire…

If that made any sense.

* * *

"Grumblemon has the captives in a cave," Koji explained with a finger ready to point at the place on the mountain map, "right about…"

"Here!" Jade giggled, pointing at the place where she assumed the cave was…

...and unintentionally making her and Koji's fingers touch. They quickly pulled their fingers away from each other, as if they'd been burned as their faces were tainted lightly crimson again. (causing Alex to mentally scoff, "_They are so freaking ob-vi-ous, why doesn't he make a freaking move on her?!_") That really needed to stop happening.

Mikemon hummed, "We'll have to get in and out quickly then, considering how fast this guy can creep up on you, based on what the peanut operation told us."

Jade scoffed and glared at him, "Who you calling a peanut operation?!"

She was ignored by the feline while all the Mountain-Dwelling Digimon whimpered in hopelessness.

JP ended up being the one to cheer them up, "Just relax."

Two words and they were smiling like they'd won the lottery.

"Have no fear, leave everything to us!" JP declared, hand out in front and then placed on his heart, "Legendary Warriors!"

Two words and those smiles had turned into fear-filled expressions, also holding shock and disbelief. The snail Digimon trailed away backwards from the group of Humans and Digimon, all backing into the opposite corner of the room.

"What's the matter?" Zoe asked, utter confusion in her voice.

Mikemon's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

The shaky and fearful Elder spoke up, "You mean all of you…" Sweat trickled down his brow, "are Legendary Warriors?"

While Koji sat there with an (adorable) confused puppy look on his face, Jade gave the Katasukis' a "WTFF: What The Flying Fuck" look.

Takuya grinned and raised his arms as if showing off his non-existent muscles, "Yeah, in the flesh!"

"Except me!" Alex quietly declared, raising his hand and grinning, "I just sit there and look pretty, which gives Renamon super strength!" He giggled and started rocking back and forth where he was sitting with his legs crossed.

Everyone ignored him for watching the KaratsukiNumemon take place in a heated discussion behind them.

"Hey," Tommy called, curiously cute, "what got them so worked up?"

Bokomon smiled at everyone and opened his arms out wide, "Believe me, I'd have trouble believing you're Legendary Warriors, too."

"I bet they're in awe of us." JP grinned, a pointy-finger up as if he'd figured it all out.

Alex was still rocking and grinning, humming what sounded like the "Thomas The Tank" engine theme.

JP sweat-dropped, "What the heck is he doing?"

Jade groaned and chuckled nervously, "Sometimes when he'd eat non-rotting veggies, he'd get like this for about an hour. And by, like this, I mean acting as if he's had one too many shots."

"I haven't had anything to drink, Sissy-Wissy." Alex giggled, draping himself all over his sister' back, who sat looking annoyed-but-used-to-this. He took a sniff of her hair and then giggled, hiccuping as he stated, "You stink like, hic, like whiskey though Sis. Hehehe, hic, has Uncle Atty let you at the good stuff again?" His grin turned completely shit-eating, "Ohhhhhh, Mom's gonna castrate Uncle Atty when she finds out."

Koji stared at the interaction in bewilderment. He'd never seen anyone drunk before, but based on what he'd heard, this is how some people are. It was incredibly weird.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Alex brightened suddenly and grabbed Koji, shoving him and Jade so they were shoulder to shoulder and he had an arm draped over each of their shoulders, "How about I leave you two alone in a bedroom for a little while?" The duo of Light and Chaos turned bright red while everyone else started freaking out "Hehehe, hic, come on guys, hehe, hic." He stood up and started pulling on the backs of their collars, "Let's get you two to bed so I can have a niece of my own, hehe."

Jade groaned and covered her face in embarrassment, "Alex, you're drunk, go to bed."

"I'm not," hic, "drunk, you are, sttttuuuuuppppppppiiiiiiiiidddddddddd." Alex laughed.

"Oh Ra almighty, give me strength." The brunette's ears and neck started turning red, much to everyone else's amusement, "Renamon, please, he's your partner, get him off me!"

Renamon shook her head, "He was your brother first, Jade, I can't help you here."

Jade groaned and hid in her face even more, "I hate my life, somebody just throw me out the window and end it, pppppppllllllllllllleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaasssssssseeeeee."

Koji groaned a bit quieter in sympathy and grabbed the arm Alex had draped over his shoulder, "Come on, Al, let's get you to a bedroom."

Alex grinned, "OH! That's a good idea, Koji, let's go!" He made it so he was hanging onto Koji's shoulders smirking, "Let's go to bed."

Mikemon snorted, "Looks like you've got a fanclub, Wolf boy!"and started laughing.

"SHUT UP, ALEX, THAT IS NOT THE APPROPRIATE WAY TO BE TALKING TO SOMEONE!" Jade shrieked in embarrassment, taking her hands away from her face and turning to Koji, "I am so, freaking, sorry, man."

Koji's slightly flustered face showed discomfort, but he still said, "Don't apologize; so long as he isn't like this in the morning, I'll be fine. Can you get him off me though, please?"

The brunette continued blushing as she stood up and gently pried her brother's arms off of Koji, but it didn't take much convincing to get Alex to let go and latch onto his sister instead.

"Oh, and just for the record, Mikemon." Jade turned around and gave the cat Digimon an annoyed glare, "Fuck. Off."

He gave one more smirked and shrugged his paws innocently, "I wasn't going to say anything, sissy-wissy."

He snicked and then Renamon punched him in the back of the head, effectively knocking him out for a few blissfully quiet moments.

Then Alex made his presence known again.

"SISSY!" He exclaimed in delight, giggling and rubbing his forehead against the back of her skull, "You saved me from the mean, old, wolf, thank you, thank you!"

He kissed the back of his sister's head repeatedly, making her face turn from cherry red to crimson red as she dragged him to the nearest exist.

"I'll be back once I'm sure this idiot's asleep, I promise!" She stated, looking over her shoulder, before disappearing into the doorway.

Bickering could be heard the second she was gone.

"Who are you calling an idiot, stupid?!"

"OW! Geez, stop pulling my hair, you freaking brat, or I swear I'll drop you off the side of the mountain!"

"It wouldn't matter even if you did because I'm a butterfly!"

"No, you're overweight and skinny, you're not a butterfly."

"_Ay ee ay ee ay  
I'm your little butterfly  
Green, black and blue  
Make the colors in the sky.  
Ay ee ay ee ay  
I'm your little butterfly  
Green, black and blue  
Make the colors in the sky-_"

"OH MY SLIFER! Of all the songs to sing when you're drunk, why does it always have to be that one?!"

"I can sing another one! _We're all in this together  
Once we know that we are  
Where it starts  
And we see that.  
We're all in this together-_"

"NO! Anything. But the **crap**. That you hear. In **fucking** High School Musical."

"You have no appreciation for good pop music, Sister."

"That's because I don't know a fucking **thing** about music genres, so would you pretty please shut the hell **up** already?! Your singing and my shouting is giving me a migraine!"

"What's a migraine, Sister? Is it a girl problem?"

"Oh it's a girl problem, al-fucking-right, but I can make it your problem if you don't **shut up**!"

When their voices finally faded, the entire group were sweat-dropping.

"Is Jade always like this?" Takuya asked, chuckling nervously.

Koji hung his head, blue lines of discomfort on the side of his head, "No. Is Alex?"

Zoe chuckled slightly nervously as well, "Sometimes. He is a weird one."

Renamon chuckled, "True. But so is his sister on some level."

"They sure are an interesting duo, huh?" Tommy asked, smiling slightly.

JP sighed, smiling, "Yeah, I guess so."

"I'll say." Mikemon grinned, having gained consciousness again, "But you know what? I like it when they come in all shapes, sizes and insanity levels."

"I like turtles." Neemon stated.

"I'd like you to shut up." Bokomon hissed, annoyed.

Elder faked a cough then, breaking into their conversation with a fake smile and a sweat-covered body (all the other snails were the same), "It's time to go to bed."

Takuya stood up and pumped his fist, "And I say, it's time of us to rescue the girls!"

Elder's smile was so obviously strained and fake, it looked painful as he waved them off with what he had for a left hand, "Oh, no, no. Get some rest first." He placed his two 'hands' together, almost in prayer, "And then you can tackle the job in the morning."

Takuya deflated like a balloon, "Uh, okay."

"Now, off to bed with you!" Elder snapped.

With that, the group of humans and Digimon headed in the direction Jade had disappeared to.

Then it suddenly occurred to Koji:

How did Jade know where the bedrooms were?

* * *

Since the beds were stuck to the side of the mountain, just like everything else in the village, the gang asked for a bit of hay to sleep on instead. By midnight, while JP, Zoe, Bokomon, Neemon, Alex and Renamon snored away on the end of the hay, Mikemon, Tommy, Takuya, Koji and Jade rested on another side.

Takuya turned around in a state of half awareness, turning to face Koji who was also looking in his direction.

"What?" The Warrior of Light spat.

"Huh?" Takuya was confused, but then he placed his left hand on the ground to steady himself a little, "Hey, ya know, I didn't like you at first but you're alright. Helping out the KaratsukiNumemon and all."

Koji humphed, turning away from the Warrior of Fire, "They helped me first, but don't think I'll help you."

A huff and the sound of rustling leaves indicated Takuya had turned around; then there was one more snoring voice, indicating he was sleeping.

Koji's tensed form relaxed slightly; maybe he'd be able to sleep now that the annoying Goggle Head had stopped with his damned turning and tossing.

"No… Don't… Stop it, please..."

Opening his eyes, he looked at Jade's whimpering and shaking form, a cold sweat covering her forehead.

"I-I swear, I'll pay, just stop it please… Stop it now... I said no... I mean it..." Her face was the perfect definition of fear and anxiety and it made Koji feel like throwing up just from looking at it; that expression should not be on her face, "Stop touching me, I… I don't like it… Please..."

"Jade." He called softly, forcing himself not to reach out physically; that might frighten her more, "Jade, wake up."

She started panted, as if she was running in her sleep and glancing towards her legs told him that she nearly was with the way they were twitching like that.

"Have to save Al, have to save Al." She chanted as if it were the only thing she could think about, "Fuck the pain, fuck the bleeding, just save Al, you incompetent bitch."

"Jade, wake up." He called more firmly; he did **not** like hearing her dissing herself.

"Have to save Al, have to save Al, have to save Al before** he** gets to us." She continued panting, "Have to save Al, before-"

"Jadedena wake up!" Koji couldn't take it anymore; he grabbed her shoulder and shook her hard.

Her eyes opened faster than he could register anything and suddenly he was on his back, with a hand wrapped around his throat and another holding his other hands down on the ground above his head. He tried to suck in a breath, but doing so made Jade's hand tighten around his throat slightly.

"Jade," He coughed slightly as he felt the hands tighten, "it's me. Koji. It's me!"

For what felt like an hour, but was really just 10 seconds, nothing happened. But then the recognition appeared in her golden eyes, they turned back to brown and suddenly she was off him, lying on her side, facing away from Koji and shaking.

"Not again," She whispered, a slight whimper of pain in her voice, "dear Gods above, not again."

"Jade, are you okay?" He sat up and nearly moved towards her, but decided against it.

"You idiot." Jade snapped, sitting up and turning around, tears running down her face like waterfalls; Koji's gut twisted in pain, "Why are you asking me that?! You're the one who almost got strangled because of me and my fucking, stupid Night Terrors!"

Koji was surprised; she'd been having a Night Terror? She hadn't had one when he was around, yet; or at least, he didn't think so, "Does that happen often?"

"What?" She spat, the tears still falling; she hadn't even bothered to whip them, "Someone trying to wake me up during a Night Terror only to get strangled?! Alex learned the hard way to just let the nightmares role if he didn't want to get hurt and make me feel guilty later! So no; that doesn't happen often!"

When Jade finally seemed to realize her voice was raised, she stood up and walked towards the window/sky-light.

"Jade, wait!" Koji called to her and stood up.

"Stay away, Minamoto!" Jade snapped.

He flinched at the use of his last name. She sent him a final tear-filled glare and jumped out the window, landing on the balcony he knew was there and walking away. It didn't take him long to decide to follow her.

* * *

"Worthless, fucking, stupid, evil, life-ruining, bitch." Jade muttered to herself on the rooftop/wall, "How could I do that to him? After all he's done for me, how could I yell at him like that? How could I strangle him, for God's sake?" She slapped her forehead and sniffled; damn tears wouldn't fucking stop, "Damnit, why do I always have to fuck up every time something good happens to me or Al? Why the fuck do I have to ruin everything?"

She turned her eyes to the trio of multi-coloured moons that she hadn't had time to appreciate yet. Damn, they were worth appreciating though. She wondered if any Digimon lived on the moons.

Did they have an atmosphere like one in the Digital World?

Did the atmospheres of the moons consist of something other than a mix of Nitrogen (79%), Oxygen (20%) and Carbon Dioxide+Argon+Water Vapour+Xenon (1%)?

Did the Digital World even have that atmosphere, give or take a variation of 2 in the percentages she'd been taught by Uncle Bastion?

Did one of the Digital World moons have a way to take them all home again?

Would Koji be happy if she went and lived on one of the moons, far, far away from him?

'Probably' was the only answer she could think of for all those questions she'd thought up.

"If you think I hate you, you're wrong."

Gasping and turning around, Jade sighed as she turned back to the front, "What made you think that I thought you hated me, Koji?"

She could imagine him shrugging as the sound of footsteps came closer, "I don't know, Jade. Maybe it had something to do with the way you ran from me?"

Jade kept her arms wrapped around her legs, unable to look Koji in the eye; how could she do that after nearly killing him? Why was he even here, talking to a messed up monster like her when he should've been getting some freaking sleep? What the hell is he doing?

Koji sighed and took a seat beside her, sitting undeniably close to her but it wasn't uncomfortable. Honestly, Jade was happy she could feel his warmth beside her, selfishly so but the doubts and fears screamed in her mind for him to run away and leave her here where she belonged. Leave her here, forever in the dark, so he could be safe. She'd be fine on her own, she managed it before.

"Ya know, I meant it when I said I didn't hate you, Jade." Koji spoke up, voice seemingly God like in the silent night, "It was my fault for waking you up, anyway."

Jade scoffed, "Shut up. It's not like you knew I'd attack you if you tried to wake me up. Hell, usually you'd sleep through my Night Terrors-" She slapped a hand over her mouth, mentally berating herself; fucking idiot, he wasn't suppose to know she had nightmares every night!

"You've been having nightmares like this around me before?" His voice sounded angry, hurt and rightly so in Jade's opinion, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I didn't want to worry you, Koji." She sighed, taking her arms off of her knees and lying them flat on the roof instead, her fingers crossing in her lap, "It was my problem and it's not like it was one that bothered you. I've been having Night Terrors for ages and I've already told you I have them; why should I wake you up from a peaceful sleep every time my demons came knocking at my door when you clearly need the rest?"

"Because I care about you, stupid!" Koji hissed, turning his body so it was facing her's.

Jade gasped and also turned, her eyes wide in surprise.

"Jade," Koji's hands came to rest on her shoulders, firm yet gentle, "you helped me out just by talking about my life with me whenever you're up. Just having you around, knowing I have someone I can count on makes me feel a lot safer and happier then I have in ages! So why can't I do that same for you?!"

Her eyes rimmed with tears again, "I…"

"Jade," This time, Koji's voice had gone a lot softer and he went from her shoulders to her upper arms, "I'm not very good at making friends, okay? I don't know how to do it, but when I do find a friend, I do know what you're suppose to do. You're suppose to be there for each other, through the good, the bad and the ugly times, supporting each other even when everything goes to shit. And it's not much of a friendship if it's only one person doing all the supporting and never getting supported in return."

"Koji…" Brown eyes flashed gold for a second before returning to normal.

"So, Jade, please," Koji rested his hands on her own, stating, "let me be there for you, like you're there for me. Please, Jade."

She whimpered for another moment, before nodding and throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shirt, sobbing into his arms and holding on for dear life. He wrapped his arms around her back in return, holding her as close to his body as humanly possible.

"I, I, I'm sorry for this, but I just," She sniffled in the whimpering, taking a breath, "I'm so, so used to hav-having to do this a-alone and I just-Goddamn fucking hormones. Making me all whimpery and shit."

He stroked the back of her head gently, slowly, "It's okay, I've got you. You can be as whimpery as you want right now."

She gave a sorrowful laugh, "But I don't like being whimpery, Koji. It's not fun and it's not cool."

"Well, it's not like you're made of gold," He smiled softly, "so who says you have to be cool all the time?"

The brunette gave a choked laugh, "True."

The two friends just sat in that starry night for a moment, just holding each other as Jade's sobs turned to easy breathing. Even when she did calm down, neither of them let go; Koji because A) he didn't want to accidentally make her feel rejected and B) he liked being able to hold her and keep her safe in his arms like this. Jade didn't let go because A) it was really nice to not have the world on your shoulders for once and B) she liked being held like this, like she was worth keeping safe.

However, their arms were starting to hurt and they weren't sure they'd be able to stay safe like this.

"I'm okay now." Jade whispered and pushed back from Koji's body a little bit, smiling up at him, "Really."

Koji gave her a smile, one last brush of her head (God, her hair was so soft) and let her go, "We'd better go get some sleep, huh? Big day tomorrow."

She nodded, yawning, "Yeah."

Jade stood up, stretched a little and walked across the wall, jumping down into the sky-light/window of the house they were all sleeping in. Koji stood up and also followed her in the same way-

WACK!

-only to have something smash against the back of his head, knocking him out almost instantly. His vision swam, but he managed to identify three things before he blacked out.

Jade on the ground unconscious.

Renamon, Alex and the others in ropes.

And someone muttering, "You deceitful humans will pay."

* * *

"Ja… Al... ke up..."

"_What?_" Alex thought, his mind muddled in the darkness, "_Is someone calling me?_"

"ade… lex… Wak..."

"_Hello?_" He thought, "_Is someone there?_"

"Jade! Alex! Wake up!"

Eyes snapping open when he finally recognized the voices, Alex turned his head towards them, "Renamon! Koji! What's going on?!"

The yellow fox at his right growled, "We don't know, but we're hanging from a cliff and your sister won't wake up."

"WHAT?!" Alex snapped his head towards his left where Jade was completely slumped over, head hung low, bangs covering her eyes, "JADEDENA!"

"Jade, wake up!" Koji hissed, sounding as if he was almost begging for it through his gritted teeth, seemingly uncaring for everything else around him, "Please, Jay, wake up."

Now that everyone else who had woken up (Jade and Neemon were the only ones still out), Mikemon took the time to mutter beside Koji, "Oh fuck, doesn't matter how many times the bad guys hang me from the side of a cliff; it's still fucking scary as hell."

Koji glared up at their captors, who upon further inspection were revealed to be the KaratsukiNumemon, "What are you doing?"

All the snail Digimon glared down at them in pure hatred, Elder spitting, "We'll give you back to your partner, for our women."

Takuya looked livid, "You dirty sneaks, is that why you brought us here?!"

Elder shook his head, clearly angered, "I think it is you who are the dirty sneaks. Pretending to be caring, helpful strangers when you're really Legendary Warriors!"

"I don't understand," Zoe wailed, "what's wrong with that?!"

"The time for your games and lies is over." Elder snapped, "Soon, you'll be back with your ally."

"Ally, what are you talking about?" Koji exclaimed in bewildered rage, seething in his head, "_And what the __**hell**__ did you do to Jade, you fucking freaks?! I'll kill you!_"

With the memory of what happened between them earlier in the night fresh in his mind, the feeling of having Jade in his arms like that, the fierce-almost-primal need he felt to protect her at all costs… With all those feelings and thoughts running around his head, he realized it didn't matter why he felt so strongly about this nor was the confusion these feelings and their circumstances even worth the thought. All he cared about was getting him and Jade out of this situation, safe and sound, **now**.

Or else he'd go mad.

"Don't play dumb!" Elder snapped, "We know you're all in league with Grumblemon!"

"WHAT?!" Everyone conscious exclaimed.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Everyone exclaimed in shock as a hole appeared in the mountain right beside Neemon, who finally woke up, but Jade remained unconscious despite the severity of the situation. Noticing this, Koji felt like his heart plummet into his stomach.

Damn it, why wasn't she waking up?!

"Now give Fractal Code," A grouchy and rough voice called, "or bad things be happen!"

Alex sweat-dropped "Did anyone understand what he just said?"

Renamon and Mikemon shook their heads, also sweat-dropping.

Takuya glared at the hole, "Oh yeah? Says who?!"

"Be me, and you say me too, once you know who I am." The creature stalked to the entrance of the cave and declared when the light hit his body, "You call me GRUMBLEMON!"

Everyone gasped in shock-horror.

Grumblemon was a dwarf-like creature with purple, spiky armour on his shoulders, knees and toes. He wore brown flats, burgundy ripped shorts, a grey sleeveless-shirt and a large, dark red hat with a brown belt and a ball of the dark-lavender, spiky armour on the end that could have been mistaken for a tail. On his mud-brown skin were red markings of a circle and a cross being connected by a long line; one of these marks on each of his arms and a smaller one on his massive nose. His eyes were green, his ears were pointed and he had some of the dark-lavender armour on his chest and a white piece of armour on his stomach. On the white armour was a symbol.

"Look at that symbol!" Zoe called.

Everyone besides Jade turned their attention to Grumblemon's stomach-armour, noticing there was indeed a symbol there. It looked like a yellow fork sticking out of the yellow ground with a burgundy background and a purple circle all around it.

"He's also a," Takuya gulped, eyes wide and mouth open, "a Legendary Warrior?!"

Mikemon muttered, "Shit, no wonder the Karatsukis tied us up."

"Give Fractal Code, or else." Grumblemon threatened, voice still grouchy, "You not want see what 'or else' is."

"Oh my," Bokomon stated, looking shaken, "I didn't realize there were bad Legendary Warriors."

Grumblemon gave the Humans and Digimon curious looks before asking, "What for human-yoyos?"

"Grumblemon!" Elder cried out, glinting knives held near the ropes, "If you want to save your allies, give us back our women now!"

JP sent a nervous look upwards, gulping, "Those knives are a little close, there!"

Everyone else exclaimed in worried gasps, but that got Koji thinking…

"What so?!" Grumblemon grouched, pointing towards the group, "Me no care what happen to weak human thing."

The KaratsukiNumemon shared a couple of eye glances before their glare hardened and they brought the mini-scythes that much closer to the ropes. Everyone besides Renamon, Koji, Jade and Mikemon started panicking, Tommy and Takuya going so far as to make the ropes start swinging in their struggle. Grumblemon just scratched his nose, as if completely bored.

"Wait, you mean you really don't care about them?!" Elder called out in shock, "But they're Legendary Warriors too!"

"I'm not and neither is my sister, or Renamon, Mikemon, Neemon or Bokomon!" Alex exclaimed, angry, "I told you guys that from the start!"

Grumblemon reeled back in surprise, "Huh?! These weaklings be Legendary Warriors?!" He smirked, turning his attention back to the kids, "Me think someone got their hands on some Spirits and took them when they shouldn't have." He clenched his fists, still smiling, "Now me put my hands on you and take them all right back! So..."

He pulled a hammer out of the ground while the group finally stopped struggling and swung it back, causing panic to grip nearly everyone again.

Elder's eyes were wide with shock, "Wait, what's going on here?! You mean you aren't allies?!"

"That's what we've been trying to tell you!" Tommy wailed, tears running down his face.

Grumblemon pulled the hammer right back and swung it towards the cliff with the force of a boxer's punch.

"JADE WAKE UP!" Alex screamed in alarm, eyes brimming with tears for his sister.

Jade finally opened her eyes and just in time to jump with the rest of the gang out of the way of the hammer that left a dent in the side of the mountain. In their panic, Elder and the other snails dropped their knives and started climbing back up the mountain to get away from the evil Warrior. Koji glanced once at Jade, glad to see she was fine and pushed himself off the edge of the cliff as far as he could swing. One of the knives came spinning towards him and by some miracle of physics cut the ropes holding him there.

"KKKKKKKKKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Jade screamed at the top of her lungs, tears appearing in her eyes.

As Koji fell, he called out for his Spirit and evolved into Lobomon; the wolf was a sight for the brunette girl's sore eyes. Grumblemon hummed in annoyance while Lobomon grabbed his rope and swung for the annoying garden gnome, kicking him so hard that the two landed in one of the houses on the mountain side.

"Time for action." The girl grinned.

She managed to get her hands into her pockets were a switch-knife was waiting; she tugged it out and cut her ropes. Jade let herself fall for a moment, enjoying the adrenaline burst as she placed her knife back into her pocket.

Then she reached for her D-tector and let Yumon arrive on the scene.

"Yumon!" Alex exclaimed in surprise.

Yumon grinned as she approached the group, "Miss me, guys?"

With that, she grabbed their ropes and placed them on the ledge Grumblemon had been on, then she fried their hands so they could take care of the rest.

"Come on!" She called over her shoulder as she took to the sky again, "Let's take this guy down and help Lobomon out!"

"Right!" Everyone called.

Suddenly, everyone spotted Lobomon and Grumblemon falling once more, crashing through house after house until Lobomon was just hanging on the edge and getting his fingers stamped on.

"LOBOMON!" Yumon called diving for the house.

Takuya turned to the others, "We have to Spirit Evolve, too!"

Everyone nodded, besides Alex who instead turned to Renamon, "Are you ready, partner?"

The fox nodded, "Only if you are."

"Then let's do this!" Alex called out, grinning.

"**EXECUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!**" The Warriors called out the same time Alex cried, "**DIGIVOLVE!**"

With that, the Legendary Warriors and Kyubimon appeared on the scene, causing Mikemon to grin as his claws glinted in the dark light.

"Now we're talking." He declared, practically purring.

* * *

Meanwhile in the hut, just as Grumblemon was about to bring a hammer down on Lobomon's fingers, he got tackles away by an enraged Yumon, who tackled him right out of the building and on top of the next one, where Beetlemon, Agunimon and Mikemon were waiting and ready to brawl. As the evil Warrior was distracted, Kazemon, Kumamon, Alex and Kyubimon flew into the building.

Kazemon placed Kumamon down and then extended her hand to Lobomon, snapping, "Give me your hand!"

Lobomon turned his head away stubbornly, angry he'd been caught in a weak moment by the others.

"Cut the motcho act and gimme your hand!" The Warrior of Wind snapped again, this time annoyed.

"Please." Alex added, a bit more timidly.

Lobomon turned back towards her, groaned in frustration and took her hand with the one that wasn't holding onto the building.

Once he was up, the Warrior of Light gave Kazemon a glance, "Thanks."

"_Prego_!" The Warrior of Wind sang in Italian, hands in a 'It was nothing' gesture, "Glad to do it!"

Alex smiled, "You have got to teach me Italian one of these days, Kazemon."

"And I will, don't worry about that." She gave him a little wink.

Lobomon started talking again, no nonsense attitude, "Okay, guys, here's the plan. While I'm fighting Grumblemon, you free the captives and get all the KaratsukiNumemon some place safe. You got it?"

Kazemon nodded, smiling softly.

Kumamon grinned, placing a fist over his heart, "You bet."

Alex grinned, "With Kyubimon at my side, we can do anything!"

The mentioned fox Digimon just smiled and gave her partner a glance, before the group of three dashed out the door to help the mountain dwellers.

* * *

Back on the house across from them, Agunimon jumped into the air as flames appeared on the back of his hands, "**PYRO DARTS!**"

Grumblemon just batted them away with his hammer, towards Yumon, who just managed to shield herself with the wing on her arm.

"**LIGHTING BLITZ/PAW!**" Beetlemon and Mikemon exclaimed, charging towards Grumblemon at top speed.

The attack hit, sending the evil Warrior into the air, but he twisted and dove into the mountain, digging away like a super-charged mole.

"So," Beetlemon joked, "you wanna start digging or should I?"

Yumon groaned, "Only if you boys don't mind tearing up the mountain."

Mikemon sighed, "That'll take too long; we gotta flush him out, somehow."

It was then that Lobomon joined them, growling slightly when he noticing everyone was looking around, "What's wrong now?"

"We don't know where Grumblemon is." Agunimon hissed, annoyed.

"You don't know?!" The Warrior of Light snapped.

Just as Yumon was about to berate Lobomon for snapping at them, a hammer poked out of the mountain side above them and both Lobomon and Agunimon reacted fast; just not as a team. While Agunimon lunged to make a punch, Lobomon took aim with his left arm's weapon.

"You trying to get shot?!" The Wolf snapped again.

The Salamander glanced down, which gave the Dwarf the perfect opportunity to smack him back with his hammer, causing Agunimon to cry out as he fell.

"AGUNIMON!" Yumon called and flew into action.

Meanwhile, Lobomon growled in annoyance at the missed opportunity, "You should have just let me handle it!"

"Yo, Wolf-boy!"

Turning his head backwards, he spotted a very pissed off Mikemon standing behind him, who then made to do a jump, but paused.

He glanced at him, "If you want to shoot the enemy, you have to warn your allies or something like that could very well happen again. They're not mind readers and they believe you're part of their team, so talk to them if you're in the middle of a fight."

Then the cat made a dive, clawing into the wall but moving just as efficient as if he was raised on it. Glancing down, just to assess the situation, Lobomon was relieved to see Agunimon had managed to grab the rope ladder. But that relief was short lived when he sported Grumblemon poking out of the mountain again, attempting to attack the Salamander.

That relief gave way to optimistic annoyance when he spotted the opportunity to shoot Grumblemon, but Agunimon was still in the way. Yumon flew in and grabbed Agunimon off the ropes, but just as Lobomon was going to take the shot, the Dwarf spotted him and tunneled into the ground once more.

Lobomon growled as he lowered his weapon, "Now where are you?"

"You want guess?"

Lobomon turned around-

"TOO LATE!"

-only to have a hammer come flying at his face and knocking him off the building.

"LOBOMON!"

Luckily though, Yumon was flying towards him and caught him in her arms, hanging on tightly. Lobomon ended up subconsciously wrapping his arms around her shoulders as she brought him to the rope ladders again.

"Are you okay?" Yumon asked, voice surprisingly soft for a creature that looked like the Devil, "He didn't hurt you too badly, right?"

Lobomon was mildly surprised and touched by the pointless concern, but huffed and started climbing, "As if that annoying garden gnome could hurt me, period."

The Devil huffed, grinning and the Wolf smirked at her, unafraid. Yes he was fine, they both knew that now.

And then, it started to rain.

"Shit." Yumon snapped beside him, "Just when you thought it couldn't get any worst."

Lobomon agreed with her entirely.

* * *

"Careful, it's slick!" Neemon called from his place on the fence with Bokomon at his side.

"You don't need to tell us." Agunimon grunted as he, Lobomon and Mikemon climbed the ropes.

Suddenly, Beetlemon whizzed above them, "Whoa, look at that!"

Yumon flew next to him, "Look at what, Beetlemon?"

They turned their attention to the mountain that looked as if waves of loose soil, gravel and water were tumbling down the hill like a tsunami.

"All that rain is tumbling down the mountain like a-" The Beetle suddenly stopped, voice perking up slightly, "Wait a minute, that gives me an idea!" He turned towards Yumon, "Hey, you did absorb Agunimon's Flames, right?"

"Yeah, but so what, it's raining." The Devil stated, "You mind cluing me in on what the heck is going through your head?"

"Lookup." The Warrior of Thunder/Lightning stated.

The Warrior of Chaos took a glance and spotted a large part of the mountain face that looked ready to tumble any second. All it would take would be a large force of kinetic energy and perhaps-

"Ohhhhh." Yumon stated, then turned towards Beetlemon and grinned, "I am so in!"

With that, the two flying Digimon flew a little bit higher and started calling out taunts.

"Hey Grumblemon!" Beetlemon called out, "Where are you hiding, you fraidy-cat?"

"Big-Nose!" Yuman laughed, "Where are you?!"

Hearing crumbling behind them, the duo turned around just in time to dodge Grumblemon's hammer.

"**THUNDER FIST!**" Beetlemon called, summoning lightning into his hand.

"**DARK REFLECTION!**" Yumon cried out, summoning Agunimon's flames from her wings, combining them with a dark energy and blasting them out of her hand.

Both attacks completely missed Grumblemon, but the unstable mountain face wasn't so lucky.

Grumblemon cackled, "Nice shot, dorkus."

Suddenly, the ground started to shake and the Dwarf looked up just in time to get pelted down the mountain by rocks, falling with a cry of pain.

"Nice job!" Agunimon shouted over the rain fall.

Beetlemon had a smile in his voice, "Yeah, it was, wasn't it?"

"We make a good team when we work together, don't we?" Yumon smiled at her friends.

It was then that Kazemon and Kyubimon flew over, both of them carrying Kumamon and Alex respectively.

"But where are the captives?" Lobomon asked the new arrivals.

"There!" Kumamon pointed.

"On that mountain!" Alex added, also pointing and grinning.

Everyone turned their attention to see everyone from the KaratsukiNumemon village were on one of the smaller mountain peaks that surrounded the main mountain in the middle.

"Boy, it sure must be nice to get back to your family." The Beetle commented, smiling.

Seeing all the happy reunions of siblings, partners, parents and friends, along with Beetlemon's comment, made Yumon's heartache slightly in envy as she got a little bit closer to her brother, for comfort. Alex, noticing the heartache his sister was clearly feeling urged Kyubimon to get a little closer to her so she could take the Devil's hand. Yumon gave her brother a surprised look, but he just smiled a tightened his grip on her hand. She returned the smile and then turned her gaze upwards.

"Hey guys, what's that?" She called, pointing and moving away from Alex.

Right in front of them was streams and streams of data, glowing a gentle blue in the dark night.

"It must be the mountain's Fractal Code." Kazemon reasoned.

Suddenly, the sound of crumbling earth filled the air as an ugly face poked out of the mountain side.

"Oh no, Grumblemon!" Kazemon called, flying towards Beetlemon and gasping.

Yumon put a bit of distance from herself and the group in hopes of going ignored and forgotten.

Grumblemon cackled, "Ohh, look like I find what I want anyway." The mountain's Fractal Code flashed at that moment, reflecting the lighting and thunder reigning down around them as Grumblemon jumped out of the mountain side, "And thank you, I never find without you." The Dwarf laughed a few more times, then held up a totem, no wait… it was a Spirit! "Now get rid you! **EXECUTE**!"

Suddenly, data appeared and wrapped around the ugly, little Dwarf-

"**BEAST SPIRIT EVOLUTION!**"

-only for the data to dissolve, revealing a sinister looking more beastly version of Grumblemon. Nearly his entire body was covered in brown skin with decorative, pale brown patterns such as the double rings around his legs and chin. This new Digimon was twice Grumblemon's original height and his upper body was over-proportioned to his lower half, with arms that looked like gauntlets, short spikes growing out of his back and the massive, horn-like nose. His chest was muscled and he had a six pack, but compared to the rest of his body, his legs looked scrawny. His eyes were bronze and when he opened his mouth, he had no teeth but his mouth was in a zigzag pattern.

"GIGASMON!" The new Digimon called out, his voice even rougher and beastly-er then Grumblemon's was.

Kumamon, Lobomon, Beetlemon, Kazemon, Agunimon and Yumon exclaimed in shock while Alex shrieked, Kyubimon and Mikemon growled and Bokomon and Neemon were left flabbergast.

"**QUAGMIRE TWISTER**!" Gigasmon jumped for the air and began twisting in it with his arms spread out wide, until he reached tornado like-speed.

He went to attacked everyone on the ladder, who ended up falling off and Kyubimon got caught in the fray, causing her to lose her balance in the air and fall.

"ALEX!" Yumon shrieked when she saw her brother and his partner falling, along with Kumamon, Agunimon and Lobomon.

As they descended, Kumamon turned himself into an icicle and stuck to the side of the mountain. Agunimon and Lobomon landed on one of his out-stretched arms while Kyubimon needed to try and angle her descent in order to grab on. Alex was still falling but before he could go any further down, the Fox extended and cupped her nine-tails together, catching him.

Yumon released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

Beetlemon charged for Gigasmon, who was still in the tornado-like state, only to get knocked right off and towards the fence that Bokomon, Neemon and Mikemon had been standing on. The three Digimon ended up falling as well, but were caught by the Beetle and Butterfly just in time.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" The Devil shrieked in rage and charged for Gigasmon, calling out a battle cry.

"Yumon, no!" The Wolf warned.

She didn't listen to her companion, she just charged on in her blind rage.

Gigasmon hurt her friends.

Gigasmon hurt her **brother**.

Gigasmon is going to **fucking** die!

The former-Dwarf smashed Yumon in the head; hard. She didn't even have the time to scream before the pain made her pass out and revert back to being Jade.

"JADEDENA!" Alex shrieked, tears in the corner of his eyes.

Jade didn't make a single sound as she feel and everyone watched horror struck-still as she continued on her silent descent.

Gigasmon scoffed, "That it? That best you do with your Spirits? That pathetic. Even make pathetic look good." He growled towards the gang, "You joke."

"Wait a minute," Agunimon called out in alarm while Lobomon seethed with anger, "what's going on?!"

Kazemon gasped as Bokomon called out, "Rhinomon has two evolutions!"

"Now I take Fractal Code in name of Cherubimon!" Gigasmon raised his head, spreading out his arms and putting out his chest as he swallowed the code, "FRACTAL CODE: DIGITIZE!"

The entire earth shook and the mountain crumbled to pieces, causing Kumamon to lose his grip on the ice, sending him, Agunimon, Lobomon, Kyubimon and Alex into a dark hole that appeared out of nowhere.

As they screamed into the darkness, Kazemon, Beetlemon, Bokomon, Mikemon and Neemon were also lost into the abyss where the skyscraper-like mountain had once stood tall and proud.

Jade continued into her silent descent to the earth, still unconscious of the danger she was in.

Gigasmon continued to swallow up the mountain as the KaratsukiNumemon mourned for the loss of their homes and lives.

"_Can anyone stop that lame brain? Can the guys even save themselves? Find out on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters." _


	7. Island of Misfit Boys & Monsters

**Digimon Frontier-Episode 7: Island of Misfit Boys and Monsters**

(**AN: Agender minor character featured here and Autistic traits are revealed in Jade and Alex. I apologize for the wait.**)

"_While trying to find food, the gang hooked up with the KaratsukiNumemon. They agreed to rescue their women from the evil Grumblemon for some chow, even Koji and Jade helped out. But when they told the snails they were Legendary Warriors, they were captured themselves to be traded for the women. Turns out the creep who stole the women was a Legendary Warrior too, but Grumblemon had the power to Beast Spirit evolve to Gigasmon. He defeated our heroes and ate the Fractal Code for the KaratsukiNumemon's Mountain. With the gang split up, it looks like the Forest Terminal will have to wait until they find each other. Can't these guys get anything right?" _

Alex had no idea how long he, Koji, Takuya, Tommy and Renamon had been falling; his throat had gotten too sore for him to even scream a long time ago and it still hadn't gotten better. And there was no sign of the tunnel's end in sight.

"IS THIS EVER GONNA END?!" Takuya screamed into the darkness.

Alex clung a little bit tighter to Renamon, burying his face in her fur; the adrenaline he'd been feeling had worn off ages ago and now every little sound seemed to make his ears scream in pain and bleed in agony. Plus, while he knows he hadn't really fought in the fight with Grumblemon, his body was singing in pain and tiredness. He just wished it would all just stop for a few seconds.

Suddenly they were out of the tunnel and in the bright blue, morning sky, hanging mid air.

And then, they were falling again.

"I just had to AAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" Alex cried out, voice found once more after the adrenaline came back to him.

He braced himself for the impact, clinging to Renamon in hopes that even if these were his last moments, at least he'd get to spend them with his partner-

"Whoa!"

-only to land in a pit of giant… bouncy balls? Oh fuck it, the Digital World didn't make any sense at all, so why wouldn't they land in a bouncy ball pit. Why. The fuck. Not?!

Alex was evidently having a worse day than he thought considering he was swearing in his head.

"This looks like more fun than it is." Tommy muttered from wherever he landed.

"You're not kidding." Takuya agreed.

Alex dug himself out of the ball pit and spotted Renamon was already up and Takuya, Tommy and Koji were doing the same.

"Whoa, is this a big playground?" Takuya exclaimed, hand on his goggles, "and if it is, what needs a playground this big?"

Alex looked around and spotted that the bouncy balls were being held in a yellow castle-like struck and off in the distance, he spied a lavender castle like one in a princess story with high towers.

"We're gonna find out, aren't we?" Tommy asked, sounding defeated.

Takuya sighed, "Of course."

Renamon then appeared at Alex's side, "I've scouted out the area a bit; there are no Digimon or anything of intelligence in our immediate vicinity."

"Then we better get going since this isn't the best place to start a fight." Alex suggested, "I can hardly keep my balance on these things."

With a couple of nods, the boys and Digimon started heading for the exit.

* * *

Now that they were a little ways away from the ball pit, Takuya called out at the front of the group, "Keep your eyes peeled for Zoe and the others."

Alex nodded and bite his tongue to stop from making a smartass remark on how he only named Zoe, like she was the first person to come to mind since he _liked_ her.

He glanced towards Koji, who was on his right and appeared rather tense as he kept glancing around, seemingly desperate but trying to hide it. Aww, so the wolf was missing his pack! Or perhaps, his mate… Wait, that wasn't good! There was no way he was letting him so much as look at his sister in the wrong way if those were his intentions!

The blonde then glanced towards Tommy, who was looking around in awe at all of the super-sized stuffed building blocks and toys. Well, he was just a little kid in his head and it's not like this isn't all really cool. Alex himself was barely restrained from running off to play with some of the toys, since they were all so cool looking.

The Non-Warrior glanced up to see Renamon jumping from tree-top to toy-top, scouting out the area incase of any hostiles. God, she was working pretty hard to watch out for them. That's kinda a good and bad thing though. Good because everyone was a little distracted by their surroundings and the lack of their friends. Bad because she was working too hard.

"Something tells me they're not gonna be easy to find in this place." Koji stated, sounding calm and grumpy at the same time for some reason.

But Alex could hear different birds calling out in the distance. He hoped that wasn't a bad thing.

"...fffffFFFFFFSSSSSHHHHH!"

Turning their heads to the sky, the group noticed a UFO was above them.

"Hey, maybe that flying guy has seen them." Takuya suggested as the being continued to fly over their heads as if it hadn't noticed them.

Alex put his hand over his eyes to block the sun and peered up at the thing. Now that it was closer, Alex could make out the body of a human and some red/yellow armour, "Looks like a robot or something."

Tommy grinned happy, "A flying toy robot? Neat!"

Then ran off after the toy, causing the others to exclaim in shock.

"Wait!" Takuya yelled as he went after Tommy, who was calling, "Hey Robot!"

Alex groaned, "Awww, man, I hate running." And also sprinted after the duo, "You guys, wait up!"

As the three boys ran off, Koji scowled while Renamon sighed, both of them thinking, "_I don't know which one of them is worst._"

Giving in, the two ran after the others, all in the hopes of getting some answers… Or playing with toys.

After running after the robot for a few minutes, it landed near a group of other toys. There was a race track, a couple car, puzzles, building blocks and springy things.

"Check it out, this is awesome!" Tommy exclaimed in rejoice as he and Alex at the head of the pack neared the toys, dropping to the ground to play with one of the cars.

"Oh wow!" Alex fell to the ground, giggling as he picked up the other car and began examining it, "I haven't played with one of these in years!"

Takuya looked around, eyes and ears open as he whined, "Hey, where'd it a go?"

"Don't sit down, we don't have time for this!" Koji snapped at the younger boys.

"He's right, there could be an enemy around the corner, Alex. We need to stay alert." Renamon advised, kneeling beside her partner.

"Give me a break, Ren, I'm still just a little kid, at least in my mind. And I haven't played with toys for years!" Alex stated, grinning at Tommy, "Plus, someone's gotta play with him, am I right?"

Tommy nodded eagerly and placed his car on the track, then it immediately sped off. Alex smiled and placed his toy on the track, watching in amazement as it wizzed around behind Tommy's car, nearly neck and neck with each other. The two children at heart laughed loudly and freely as they watched the toys running 'round the track.

Koji sighed, lowered his head and grumbled, "What babies."

Tommy turned around and pouted at the meaner, older boy, "I am not! These are just cool toys!"

Alex also turned around and pouted, "Forget about him, Tommy. He's just jealous that he can't have any of these awesome toys now, since he's being so mean to us."

Takuya leaned forward slightly so the two could hear him a little better, "Yeah, they are cool, but this probably isn't the best time to be playing. I mean, we still need to find everyone else, right?"

Images flashing through his mind of the last time he saw his sister, Alex could only gasp and lowered his head in shame, eyes bidden by his bangs as he murmured, "Jade…"

Damnit, he'd been right there! But all he could do was watch her fall into the abyss, not even a scream being allowed to leave her lips.

"Oh come on, when else are we gonna play with all these neat toys?" Tommy frowned as he asked this and then turned back to the car, hoping to ignore them.

Alex didn't turn back to the track. He just sat there with his arms around his knees, gritting his teeth as he cursed his uselessness. Damn it.

Takuya seemed to pause in consideration at Tommy's words and turned his head towards the other toys. Seeing a familiar shape, he kneeled down and picked up the flying robot that had guided them there, "Is this the flying robot?"

Renamon took a look at the toy in the goggle-head's hands, "It would appear so."

"Hey, maybe the car's can fly, too!" Tommy suggested, still in love with the toys.

Takuya fiddled with the robot for a second, then it's arm shot off, "Hey that is cool! Super Robot Punch!"

Disapproved, Koji turned and spat at the boy, "Not you too!"

Sheepishly, Takuya tried to explain himself, "I… I guess not." He turned towards Tommy and Alex, "Put down the stupid toy!"

Pouting, Tommy sighed and put the car back on the ground, standing up. Rhys had long stopped playing with his car and stood up, walking off and ahead of the group as soon as the order came out. Concerned, Renamon followed her partner, Takuya, Koji and Tommy following behind her.

"Alex?" Renamon called softly as she got closer to the blonde, "Can you tell me what's upset you?"

The blonde sighed heavily and put his hands in his pockets, staring up at the sky, wind rustling his hair and scarf, "It's just… I only just met up with Jade after being away from her for a while. And now that she's not here again, I'm not even worried about her. All I could think about were the toys." He scoffed and lowered his head, "Some brother I turned out to be."

The fox felt her heart ache a little and walked a little bit closer to her partner, "Hey, it's okay, Alex. You weren't worried too much about Jade before."

"That was because she'd left with Koji, someone who I just sorta felt was an okay guy to leave her with. I knew he wouldn't hurt her. But this time..." Alex grit his teeth, fists forming in his pockets, "She's all alone. I didn't see anyone else fall with her and now… Damnit, she could be hurt somewhere, or worst, and all I can think about is toys. What kind of brother does that make me?!"

Renamon gave her partner a smile and placed a paw on his shoulder. Alex looked up to her in confusion.

"A very good brother," Renamon said, smiling, "who believes in his sister's strengths and capabilities as a survivor. And does her a huge favor by keeping his stress levels down by not worrying about her. Which I'm sure is something she wouldn't want you doing."

Blinking for a moment, Alex smiled and placed his left hand over Renamon's hand on his right shoulder, "Thanks Ren."

"You're most welcome, Alex." Taking her hand off his shoulder, "I'm gonna get back to scouting."

The fox sprinted ahead, keeping her ears and eyes open in case of danger.

Alex smiled at where the yellow fox had gone off to and felt his guilt lift a little. He still felt pretty bad about himself, but he sure felt better now. He was pretty lucky as far as getting a partner and sister went.

Luckiest guy around.

But was being lucky really the only thing that made him worthy to have these two in his life?

* * *

"I wonder what happened to Zoe and JP." Takuya called out.

Koji wondered if Jade was okay. He wondered if she was with the others or on her own. He wondered if she was hurt. Or being attacked. He wondered if she was being chased by Grumblemon or some other crazy Digimon. He wondered-"I think our only choice is to head for the Forest Terminal."

Takuya turned his head towards Koji as Alex ran back over to them, "Yeah. I bet we can meet up with them there. What do you think?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Alex said, smiling with a thumbs up. His face then filled with confusion, as did Takuya's, so Koji looked behind him.

It was Tommy. Holding a green balloon in one hand and a pig toy in his arm. For the love of-

"Guys check it out!" The boy pushed one of the pig's ears and it started making noises, causing the hat lover to laugh.

"Hey look, we decided this isn't the time to play around, right?" Takuya said with hands on his hips.

"He's right, Tommy. We've got our friends to find and we did agree to stop playing." Alex added, trying to talk to the boy without judgment or attitude.

Tommy whimpered, letting go of the balloon and cuddling the pig, "You decided."

Takuya took his hands off his hips and he looked ready to panic a little, "Calm down, don't start crying."

Making an annoyed noise, Tommy turned his head and huffed, pouting. Alex also sighed.

"Aww man, I feel bad." Takuya stated, standing up straight.

"Why, because of him?" Koji grunted, arms followed in annoyance, "Baby has to grow up sometime."

Tommy made a sound of surprise, then lowered his head in sadness.

Alex raised one of his eye brows, a wince of sympathy in his expression, "Come on, Koij, isn't that a little bit too harsh? I agree with you completely, but I think that was said a bit too bluntly."

"Yeah, don't be so mean." Takuya added, "I mean, he's only a little kid for Pete's sake."

Koji unfolded his arms and took off walking, adding in a final word for the argument, "Whatever." and in his head adding "_I'd probably have found Jade by now if it wasn't for the useless kid._"

"No, you can't just say whatever, now listen up!" Takuya turned and yelled at the bandanna boy, causing him to cause, "I know you're not used to having friends, but you're part of a team now, so you better show some support!"

Silently, Koji mused in annoyance "_That sounds like something Jade would have said if she was here._" then said out loud, "Great idea, let's support the useless kid right up until the point we all die because of his stupidity."

"It's because of that 'useless kid' that you're still alive, Minamoto, don't forget he's the one who caught you and stopped you from falling to your death!" Alex yelled as he stomped towards Koji, "Now say you're sorry, or I'm gonna clock you!"

Snorting, the pony-tailed teen turned his whole body, taking his hands from his pockets and smirking at the blonde, "Oh, you wanna go, pretty-boy?"

"No!" The blonde spat, stopping a short distance in front of Koji, "But I will if it'll get you to swallow your pride and say you're sorry for being such a rotten egg!"

Koji shook his head as he turned back around; God this kid was annoying, how could Jade put up with him? "You know something, you're starting to annoy me."

"You wanna know something else?" Alex asked, getting a couple steps closer, "I finally figured out why my sister put up with you-it's because no one likes you!"

Snapping his head around, the Warrior of Light glared daggers at the ordinary boy, "What do you know?! Humm!"

"Hummm." Alex hummed, feeling annoyed.

"Huh?" Takuya hummed, confusedly.

"Hooo." Tommy sighed, sadly, "Come on you guys, if we keep fighting, we'll never get to the Forest Terminal."

It was then that Renamon appeared, "The boy is right, you know. And there don't seem to be any means of practical transport in the area, so we'll spend a lot of the time walking."

Sighing, the boys started walking again, this time with Renamon hanging around the group for a bit.

Chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga- "WHISTLE!"

Turning his head, Tommy at the pack of the line pointed out, "Hey, it's a train!"

* * *

"Yeah, some train." Koji grumbled, sitting on the tender of a large toy train.

"Some toy train." Takuya mocked, turning around from where he sat on the toy's cockpit (or whatever the train equivalent was called).

Koji nearly swore. Tommy giggled in rejoice as he sat in front of Takuya. Alex kept his eyes focused ahead, arms wrapped around Renamon's neck as she carried him to keep up with the thing. For a toy, it went pretty fast.

"Yeah, very funny, just drop it okay? It's bad enough that I have to ride on this stupid thing." The bandanna boy complained.

"Koji's playing with toys!" Takuya and Tommy sang.

"Hum!" The mentioned boy growled, loudly.

"Quit acting stupid, you guys." Alex called, looking towards them, then turning his head to the front, "We need to keep an eye out for our friends or any Digimon who'd wanna hurt us."

"I believe there is one in our immediate vicinity, to the right." Renamon spoke up, turning her head, "He doesn't give off a hostile aura, though."

Turning their heads, the boys all spied a yellow bear Digimon. He was as tall as a tree with teddy bear style coloring and design. He had two plasters criss-crossing on his white stomach and red, squinted eyes.

"Wow, that's wild, Takuya!" The hat-lover called, "It's a giant walking teddy bear!"

Hearing beeping, Alex took his D-3 out of his pocket and saw what it read; "Monzaemon, a Puppet Digimon. Level: Ultimate. Type: Vaccine. Despite his scary eyes, he's supposedly gentle. Attacks include: Hug, Silent Hug and Hearts Attack, which is when he flings heart shaped bubbles that induce a feeling of euphoria while also trapping the enemy. "

Takuya perked up, "Hey, maybe he knows how to get to the Forest Terminal?"

Rejoicing, the boys hopped off the train and ran to the Digimon, while Alex let go of Renamon and ran after them, his partner on his heals.

"Hey, buddy, teddy!" The goggle-head called, "Wait up!"

Monzaemon turned towards the group and then started running, giggling as he went. In their confusion, the boys stopped and Renamon and Alex ended up in front. Monzaemon reached out for Alex and then threw him to the ground.

Renamon gasped, "AL!"

"I am still undefeated!" Monzaemon cheered, paw in the air.

Suddenly, the bear was tackled to the ground by an enraged Renamon. They twisted and tumbled for a moment and ended out with Renamon on top, claws beard in Monzaemon's view and using her full body weight to keep him down.

"Wanna say that again?" She hissed, fist clenching in his fur, green mist engulfing her eyes, "I dare you to say that again."

His eyes filled with tears and Monzaemon clenched them shut, afraid.

"Renamon, calm down, you're scaring him!" Alex called, running over to his partner and grabbing her raised arm, "He didn't do that with malicious intent, I would have felt it. Stop it!"

The fox turned her head towards her partner, "But, Al he attacked you, what was I supposed to do, let him get you again?!"

"You could have picked me up and ran, I know you're fast enough." The blonde sighed, scratched his head, then let his hands drop, "Look, just let him up, okay? We're all on tight strings and I get that you acted without thinking of what would happen, or if he was a threat to begin with. But holding him down and making him cry isn't gonna get us anywhere."

Growling for a moment, the fox relented, breathed a sigh as she closed her eyes and got up off the bear, not turning her back on him and continuing to glare, though the mist had disappeared. Satisfied, Alex kneeled down by Monzaemon's side and looked the guy in the face.

"Sorry about that, Renamon's a little on edge right now. Please forgive her for over-reacting a little. But in her defense, you did attack me for no reason." Alex gently chided the bear, then offered him his hand, "Now, let's help you up."

Hesitantly, Monzaemon took Alex's hand and they got him up together.

Once he was standing, the bear said, "I'm, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I, I was only playing."

"No problem man, I knew that." Alex said, grinning, but then gestured to the others, "But not everyone is a mind reader, like me, and can't tell if something's a game or serious. So just for next time, make sure everybody knows you're only play fighting before throwing someone to the ground. That also gives everyone a chance to get ready so it can be a fun game."

"Good point. I like it when the game's fun." Monzaemon giggled, "I'm so sorry I scared you. My name is Monzaemon."

"Nice to meet you, Monzaemon." Alex then pointed at himself, "My name is Alex, but a lot of people call me Al." He gestured behind himself, "The fox is my partner, Renamon."

"A pleasure to meet you." She bowed slightly.

"The kid with the massive hat is Tommy." The blonde declared.

"Hi!" Tommy waved.

"Takuya's our goggle-headed leader." The 10-year-old added.

"Hello there." Takuya raised a hand.

"And Koji's our main-man, lone wolf type." Alex giggled.

"Whatever." Koji shrugged.

"It's great to meet all of you." Monzaemon giggled, "Can we play now, please?"

Alex gave a sad smile, "I'm sorry, Monzaemon, but we're on an important mission and can't play right now. Maybe later."

"Aww, okay." The bear visibly deflated, then smiled and turned running, waving as he left, "Goodbye my friends!"

"Bye-bye, Monzaemon!" Alex called back, waving as well.

With that settled, the gang went on their way again, opposite direction to Monzaemon. Takuya lead with Tommy beside him, Koji behind them, then Alex and finally Renamon. They walked in silence, eyes and ears peeled.

Spying something, Tommy called excitedly, "Hey, look, it's a pirate ship!"

Grinning, Alex started sprinting for it, "We might get a better view from there!"

Tommy ran alongside Alex, while the older boys and fox tried calling after them to halt, but it was useless. Sighing, Renamon, Takuya and Koji ran after the two boys, wondering if this was how a parent felt when they took their kids to an amusement park.

By the time they reached the ship, Alex and Tommy were already running all over it, exploring and looking for a way to get to the crow's nest at the top for the view they needed.

"Don't go running off like that, guys!" Takuya reprimanded them, "What if you got hurt, or if this was a trap?!"

It was then that the ship started moving. The boys cried out in shock as they latched onto the sides, Renamon yowling as she dug her claws into the ship's mast.

"Who's idea was it to get onto this crazy thing?!" Koji called out, annoyed, "Just get us off of here!"

"Hey, we're floating." Takuya commented, blinking as the ship halted for a few moments.

Then gravity brought it down again, Tommy noted, "Not anymore!"

"I thought we were!" The Goggle-Boy defended himself.

The other boys continued to cry out as the ship swung a couple times, while Alex blinked and slowly started grinning, "Hey, this is kinda fun!"

"Are you nuts?!" The other boys and Renamon demanded.

Alex merely laughed and cheered while everyone screamed with the movements of the ship.

"Is anyone else feeling kinda sick?!" The hat-lover called in alarm.

Koji yelled as the boat swayed, "Get us off of here before he loses it!"

Takuya glared, "Sure, I'll just snap my fingers!"

Renamon grit her teeth tight, tail bristly, "I hate this thing!"

"Uh oh…" Tommy murmured, his face turning green.

"Don't look in my direction, vid!" Koji warned.

"Don't point it at me!" Takuya added.

"Tommy, I love you kid, but please don't puke on me!" Alex added.

The ship finally slowed to a halt.

"I think he's gonna be okay." Koji whipped his forehead.

Tommy belched.

"Ahhh, get him off, get him off!" Koji yelled, standing up and jumping away from Tommy.

Takuya took Tommy's shoulder in hand and walked him off the ship, "You gonna be okay kid?"

"Uh-huh." Tommy replied.

"Well, that's good." Alex added in, waking off with Renamon behind him, "I wouldn't want you to be sick. That wouldn't be fun for anyone, especially you."

"Indeed." The fox agreed.

Takuya then leaned forwards and braced his hands on his knees, "Come on, you want a piggy back ride?"

"Gimme a break, make the kid walk!" Koji squawked, angrily.

The goggle-head frowned, "Look, it's no big deal, he's not feeling well so I'll help him out, okay?"

The bandanna boy took his hand out of his pocket, fist clearly seen, "Oh yeah and what'll happen if you're attacked while you're carrying him, you'll be too slow to run away, that's for sure!"

"In which point we, and by we I mean you and Renamon, can step in to shield them!" Alex offered, "For every problem, there is always a solution, indeed there is!" He chuckled and wagged his finger for no apparent reason.

"Shut it, Alex." Koji snapped.

Alex flinched, feeling dejected and lowered his head. Why does this always happen to him?

Then the pony-tailed boy turned to Takuya, "You're about the worst leader I've ever seen. You never think ahead."

"Well at least I think about someone besides myself Mr. Definition-of-the-Word-Selfish!" Takuya snapped back, mad.

Renamon sighed, thinking, "_This is getting us nowhere._"

Tommy walked by calmly, "I can walk."

The goggle-head blinked, checking in as he straightened, "Hey. Tommy, you sure?"

"Yeah, I mean, I really don't have a choice." The hat lover stated as he turned around.

The blonde smiled at the poor boy and patted his shoulder gently, "Hey, you always got a choice, Tommy, no one can force you to not have that much in your life."

"He's right." Takuya agreed, then pointed ahead of them, "I got an idea, let's see if anyone lives in that house, maybe they can help us."

Alex turned to see the house the brunette pointed out; it was a short building with an arch doorway and two arch windows. The yellow walls were painted as if they were 3 different layers with yellow/white triangle cream between. On top of the circle-shaped house was a layer of white that had strawberries and those cute "icing drops" that Alex didn't actually know what to call (they looked like a bunch of lines had been carved into them going upwards) decorating the outer ring of the roof, while a large blob but lined like the "icing drops" centered the cake. The place looked good enough to eat and was really cute.

It made Alex really hungry.

The 5 started walking towards the building, unaware they were being watched by 3 different Digimon.

The first was a baby dinosaur on two legs who's body was made of black lego blocks while his black eyes gleamed wickedly. This was ShadowToyAgumon.

The second was Monzaemon, who appeared worried.

The third was a Digimon that looked like a patchwork teddy bear gone horribly, darkly wrong. Most of it's body was purple with white parts sewn on with red stitches. It had blades for toes and fingers, but it's white/right arm was bear. All it's limbs had spikes getting out from them besides the right leg which had black straps instead. It's belly button was a red cris-cross. A pink heart was stitched into it's chest with some kind of tub linking it up to where it's mouth was suppose to be. Half it's face was white and both it's ears were made of the tub. For eyes it had two silver Xs. Two blades jutted out of it's head. This was Porcupamon.

ShadowToyAgumon laughed wickedly, "Human children on our island? This couldn't be more perfect. We shall capture all 4 of them and use them as bargaining chips when we get to the real world." He turned to the teddy bears, "Monzaemon, Porcupamon, get them now!"

Monzaemon whimpered while Porcupamon silently hid behind him, "Can't we just play?"

ShadowToyAgumon's eyes flashed purple and the two Digimon were surrounded in light, howling in pain.

And when they emerged, they were not the same.

* * *

The group of humans and Digimon walked into the doorway and Alex could not believe his eyes!

Jars full of different coloured candies. Cotton candy on racks in 3 different colors (pink, blue and yellow). An ice cream stand with over 30 flavors. A bunch of cakes all on display. Apples covered in everything, from caramel, to chocolate.

It was heaven.

"Now I know what it's like to be a kid in a candy store." Takuya remarked, eyes a light.

Tommy was grinning like mad, "And it's the best thing ever!" He ran to the cotton candy, grabbing a yellow one and stuffing his face.

"Hell yeah!" Alex cheered, then grabbed Renamon's paw and started running, "Come on, we gotta get some of that cake!"

"Alex, slow down, it's not going anywhere!" Renamon cried out as she was pulled along, but there was a smile on her face and curiosity in her eyes. She was intrigued by what this 'cake' might be and why it made Alex so joyful. Or if it really was going to stay put, like she predicted.

"I guess we could take a little time to have a snack, right?" Takuya asked the group.

"No complaints here!" Alex called, mouth already stuffed with what looked like an ordinary sponge cake, crumbs all over his face.

Renamon was eyeing her slice of chocolate cake oddly. She'd never seen food quite like this before. It appeared it had been cut from something else, probably part of a circular shaped human dish of some kind.

Tommy walked up to Takuya, pink cotton candy in hand and gave it to him, "Here, have some!"

The youngest in the group then grabbed a blue one and practically threw it into Koji's hands with a simple, "Here!"

Takuya grinned and took large bites out of his cotton candy. Alex kept complimenting the cake he was eating, taking massive bites after every swallow. Renamon gave her slice one final curious sniff, then took a small bite of it. Her eyes lit up, her tail stood on end, all bushy and bristled and she took larger and more bites of the cake. Alex watched this happen with a great amount of interest, then smiled. She may act all tough, mature and completely world ready. But she was probably as new to the Digital World as they were, despite having lived there all her life.

He was glad she was having enjoyable experiences, even after the disaster that was Katsuki Mountain. But he was also glad that she'd experienced that as well. Just as Jade had taught him when he cried over her beatings;

_She'd held up her hand with the pony finger up, all sunny smiles despite her swollen eye and the cuts on her face and neck, "All our experiences, good, bad, neutral, horrid, laughable, disgusting, pleasurable, fearful, content, confusing… They are all added to our memory banks and those become part of our personality." _

_Jade put her hand back in her lap, both body parts in the same shape as her face, "Part of what makes us individuals. Part of what makes us human. _

_Her brown eyes, so much like their father's only they'd been bloodshot because of tears, turned serious, "So no matter what happens, please don't ever wish that something horrible that happened to us never happened, because it will have made you realize you had the strength to survive it."_

_Or as he'd then summarized, tears on his face, "So, don't regret the past because it makes us who we are?"_

_She'd nodded, body covered in rags, bruises and blood and then continued with, "Our past and knowledge gives us the tools to decide for ourselves who we are."_

_Jade pointed to Alex, "Our past is the time we spent with our family. Learning how to Duel, to speak to the cards and making friends with Duel Monsters."_

_She pointed to herself this time, "Our knowledge consists of what we have been taught, what is right and wrong, what evil is and isn't, what is true and what's not."_

_Jade gripped his hand gently, but reassuringly, "It's up to us to make individuals of ourselves by making choices based on what we have known and what we are taught. And we know that regret, while it is natural, is wasted energy."_

_She chuckled, "Dad's told us that a lot and we know that when we just sit around and regret, things don't get done. So please, my brother. Don't be regretful or blame yourself over my bruises. The only one to blame is Harrison. And this will only make us stronger in the end."_

_Alex had started crying again and rubbing the tears away with his nice, clean, well looked after shirt, "But I'm tired of you getting hurt and me being in the spotlight. Harrison refuses to let me stim or go into my own head in public when I need to! He won't even let me have headphones! I want out, not just for you, but for me too. Please, Jade, get us out!"_

_Jade had shushed him gently, hugging him and rocking him like a newborn baby, "I know how you feel, Al. He doesn't let me sing or spin either. But I promise, I'll take us somewhere far away someday, a place far away from Harrison. Somewhere where you can recite all your favorite TV shows and songs. Somewhere where I can sing at the top of my voice while spinning on the spot without getting lashed for it. Somewhere where neither of us feel responsible for others' sins. But until that time, please, don't be regretful. Don't regret that you can't protect me; I'm older, it's my job to protect you, silly. Don't regret that I get treated like this; you can't hold yourself accountable for other people's actions."_

_She held him a little tighter as his sobs got a little louder, "But most of all, don't lose hope. Because even if it feels like nothing remains, hope will always be there if we're willing to seek it out. Hope is the only reason humanity's gotten this far, brother; hope and a lot of hard work. Hope is what will take us into the future because it's the fuel for productivity. Hope is all we have left. And I swear, one day, I'll put it to good use."_

Her words back then, though considered rambling by her, had kept him going on the days when he just wanted to melt down in public, cry and scream and shout until he had nothing left because it felt like the walls were closing in, risk stimming even if it'd be weird just to feel better only to get a quick glare from Harriston to stop him.

Jade has always had his back and saved his life. He half wished that one day he could return the favor (only half wished because he didn't want her to be in a situation where she'd need saving).

"We do not have time to sit around here, stuffing our faces with candy!" Koji snapped, clearly annoyed, "We have to find a way to get to the Forest Terminal. We're not out having fun at a carnival or something. You understand? Are you listening to me?!"

Nobody paid him any attention.

"Man, you're infuriating!" The bandanna boy spat.

"What are we supposed to do," The goggle-head spat back, "we're floating on an island!"

Koji's eyes hardened as he glared, "There's another example, of why you'll never be a good leader; you just give up! It's like you don't even wanna help you friends at all! I mean, take a look at what you're doing right now."

Renamon, Alex and Tommy stopped eating once that point was raised.

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas." Takuya argued.

"Plus, the sugar could give us a little energy to get our brains spinning." Alex added in, walking towards the others from the cake stand, Renamon following like a shadow.

"At least I'm not just eating, we need to think about the other Legendary Warriors!" The dark-haired boy went on.

Takuya exclaimed, "Legendary War-"

"That's right!" Alex remembered, "There are 10 Legendary Warriors and we only have 6 accounted for; Agunimon, Lobomon, Kumamon, Kazemon, Beetlemon and Grumblemon! There are 4 others somewhere out there."

"And they could be on Grumblemon and Cherubimon's side." Renamon realized with a small amount of shock.

"And what about Yumon?!" The blonde added in, "She's not a Warrior, but Jade could become her! What if there are other spirits like Yumon out there, non-Warriors who survived the war or something and became like her?"

"That's a high possibility." The fox murmured, taking a thinking pose, tail swishing, "If only Bokomon were here, then he could tell us who else might have been preserved as a spirit, or at least name those who fought against and with the Supreme King in the past."

The Spiritless boy bit his lip, "What if there are other kids like me who work for Cherubimon? Kids with Digimon partners, I mean, it's possible, isn't it?"

"At this point, anything is possible." Koji added in, "What if all that's true and every possible we've thought of turns out to mean they're on Cherubimon's side?! If they are, we need a plan! We need to think about the worst case scenario," Tommy lowered his head, "not just play games and eat sweets," He lowered the remnants of his cotton candy, "or we might not make it out of this world alive!"

The hat lover whimpered.

"Look, can we not talk about this now?" Takuya asked, noticing Tommy's discomfort.

"You mean not in front of Tommy?" Koji scowled, "I don't care if he's young, Alex is as much of a kid mentally as Tommy is physically, yet he's handling it just fine. He has to learn to face the truth!"

"Hey, don't pull that card, Koji, that's not cool!" Alex interrupted, walking towards Tommy and standing behind him supportively, "The only reason I'm not freaking out is because I'm used to thoughts and talk of dying and fighting to survive, I've lived it. Age has no bearing on maturity, so don't either of you play the 'he's young' card."

"I'm sorry you hate me so much." Tommy murmured.

Renamon blinked in shock at this, then her eyes softened. The poor boy…

Koji tried to explain, "I don't **hate** you, it's just…" but he had no words to use.

Takuya walked up to the boy and gently pet him on the head while he muttered, "I'm sorry."

"We're all just a little stressed out right now, Tommy, no one hates you." Alex kneeled in front of the boy, "It's just, people handle their stress in different ways and some people get hurt because of that even if the stressed person doesn't mean it. We just gotta stay positive for right now, okay?"

Tommy nodded, a whimper in his voice.

* * *

Meanwhile, far away, in a narrow river with high canyon walls, a log full of humans and Digimon made it's way merrily down stream. At the front was Zoe facing in the direction they traveled, Bokomon &amp; Neemon facing the same way, JP sitting on the end and facing the way they came, and Mikemon sitting on JP's back, quaking in his boots.

"H-ho-how c-can y-yo-you b-be s-so c-ca-calm wh-whi-while we're on w-w-w-wa-water?" Mikemon asked, chattering his teeth, entire body shaking, claws digging into JP's cloths.

"Ouch, geez, Mikemon, ease up a little there, I'm not a scratching post!" JP grouched.

"S-s-s-s-so-sorry." The cat chattered, though he didn't ease up.

JP sighed. This was gonna be a long trip.

"I wonder how Takuya and the others are doing." The girl thought out-loud to herself.

"I don't know." The rabbit tilted his head, saying it all at once.

Zoe turned to him, sarcastically retorting, "Gee, thanks."

Neemon hummed.

"I'm sure the 6 of them are bumping along, getting into all kinds of trouble, or causing it I suppose," Bokomon leaned forwards a little, "and that they'll show up just fine at the Forest Terminal."

"I hope you're right, Bokomon," She sighed, "but I didn't see Jade fall with them. I'm scared she's all on her own."

"That may be the case, but I'm sure she'll survive. She can turn into Yumon if she gets into trouble, but based on what Alex has told us about their life style, I'd say it's a safe bet Jade can handle herself without turning into a Digimon." Bokomon theorized, "At least, that's what I'm hoping."

"We can only hope." The blonde murmured.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

She gasped and snapped at, "JP, what are you doing to poor Mikemon?!"

"Wouldn't it be great if we could catch a big old fish for dinner? I figure we could make the cat useful." JP explained, smiling as he held the frailing, bug-eyed Mikemon by the tail over the water, who continuously screamed so fast his plea became one word, "Put me down, put me down, PUT ME DOWN!"

"Gracious, do you ever think with your head instead of your stomach? Put the poor fellow down!" Bokomon snapped.

Zoe's eyebrows narrowed as she angrily muttered, "Boys!"

JP tried to explain, but Zoe cut him off. This gave Mikemon the chance to escape the boy's grasp and jump into her arms, slightly damp and shivering in fear.

"There, there, now, Mikemon, you're safe with me." The Warrior of Wind calmly murmured, "I won't let JP or the water touch you."

He looked up at her with watery, cute eyes, "You mean that?"

She nodded, "Absolutely."

The blonde gave a pointed glare at JP, then turned on him, causing the boy to gap, then sulk.

"Aww, man, I was hoping to be her hero." The Warrior of Thunder muttered.

"If you want to impress a woman, you gotta do it with your own two socks, JP, " Neemon advised, "or something like that."

"What he means is you've got to do it yourself." Bokomon lectured, "Using Mikemon like that was extremely cruel, I bet you didn't even ask for his help."

"Yeah, that's exactly how I wanted to spend my afternoon." JP muttered, "Being scolded by a stupid rabbit and a book-smart mutant."

"Serves you right for trying to use me as a fishing rod!" Mikemon growled, eyes angry, Anime tick mark on his head, "What if I'd fallen in, huh, what then, genius?!"

JP groaned.

* * *

Back on Toy Island, Takuya, Koji, Tommy, Renamon &amp; Alex exited the sweets shop, all in low spirits. The air was tense with the thick tension, making speech near impossible.

Renamon's ears twitched.

"Does anyone wanna talk?" Tommy asked, awkwardly.

Alex huhhed and turned to his partner, "Something wrong, Ren?"

"Fine." Koji spoke harshly, "Let's talk about getting to Forest Terminal and what we're gonna do about the other Legendary Warriors and Spirits."

"I'm not sure." Renamon muttered.

"Ugh, you're unbelievable." Takuya scoffed, "I told you I didn't wanna talk about it in front of Tommy."

"It feels as if something is closing in." The fox analyzed.

"And I told you," Koji bit back, "that you can't treat him differently than the rest of us."

Alex blinked and looked around, "Now that you mention it, I think I'm sensing something weird."

"Yeah, but you can respect that he's just a kid." Takuya continued.

"Something almost like..." The blonde bit his hand, then looked at the fast fading imprints of his teeth on his skin.

Koji stopped walking, "So are you."

"Bloodlust…" The Spiritless boy said.

"Alright!" Takuya stopped, turning to face Koji, who turned to face Takuya, "Oh yeah?!"

"**HELLFIRE!**"

"SCATTER!" Alex screamed.

Everyone ran off in different directions, just in time to miss a terrifying array of bullets.

"Wh," Koji exclaimed, "what was that?!"

"I don't know!" Takuya yelled, coughing, "It came outta nowhere!"

"Renamon!"

The two gasped and looked towards Alex and Renamon, who didn't look too good. Her body was covered in scratches and dust. It seemed she got the worst of the blast while protecting her partner.

"Ren, are you alright?!" Alex asked, kneeling at Renamon's side, "Can you hear me?! REN!"

The fox coughed, then opened her eyes, smiling at Alex, "I'm okay, Al."

He whimpered, tears in his eyes and falling on her fur, "No you're not. You got hurt because of me. Again."

The two older boys gave expressions of sorrow in sympathy for Alex. The kid probably felt useless.

"My, what a shame. I was hoping to knock you all out in just one blow."

The boys jumped up, turning their attention to the smoke, where a figure was beginning to walk through, a gun over their shoulder.

"Oh well, at least I got the fox. She would have spoiled my plans if she was still in commission."

"Who are you?! Get out of the fog and face us you coward!" Takuya yelled, clearly angry.

"I'd suggest checking your numbers first, boy," The figure stepped into view, "before you issue a threat."

The being presented as a male in a blue suit with white stripes going upwards and gold buttons on the coat that gave off a jazz-music feel, a red zipped top underneath, bandages on it's left thigh. He wore a tattered silver coat with red cuffs, a red tattered scarf and a burgundy helmet that looked like an animal's head with red eyes, two horns, ears, a gold scar and silver teeth. It's white straight hair reached it's mid back where two purple wings jutted out with a horn on each. In one gloved hand, it held a knife and in the other, it held a machine gun.

The D-3 beeped and showed information along with a pictured, "Astamon, Ultimate Level, Virus Type, Demon Man Digimon. Known as a Nightmare Soldier along with being from the Dark Area, he's cruel to his enemies and kind to his friends. Nicknamed the Dark Area Prince, his gun was handmade by Vulcanusmon and called 'Gold Salmon'; it's bullets have a will of their own and will chase any enemy to the end of hell. His attacks include Maverick where he kicks with dark Qi and Hellfire where he uses all his bullets at once."

Alex gasped, "But, if his bullets can follow us, then…"

"You don't have to worry, kid. The bullets all hit the fox so they won't be coming around to hit you in the back." Astamon assured them, looking towards Renamon, "She must have known that because it looked to me like she stepped into the bullet's path when she spotted them. What a stupid thing to do just for a couple humans."

Takuya looked around nervously, "Hey, where's Tommy?!"

Everyone looked around, Alex helping Renamon to her feet and sure enough, he wasn't near.

"My associate, WaruMonzaemon, has the boy with the big hat. You can try to go after him if you'd like," Astamon stated, raising his gun and grinning, "but I assure you, you won't get very far."

Koji growled, "You asking for a fight?"

"But Renamon's hurt and someone's gotta get Tommy!" Alex cried, "We don't have time to fight this guy!"

"But he's not giving us much of a choice." Takuya seethed, reaching for his D-Tector.

"Wait."

Everyone stopped and turned their heads to Renamon, watching as she shrugged herself free from Alex and walked forwards.

"I'll take care of this guy. You need to rescue Tommy." The fox stated, coming to the front of the group.

"But Ren, you're hurt!" Alex cried, joining her, "Plus, you felt what those bullets can do, there's no way you're fighting him by yourself in this condition!"

"Then Digivolve me, Al." Renamon requested.

He hesitated, "But-"

"We don't have time to argue!" She snapped in, sharply.

Alex flinched, scared.

Renamon blinked and sighed, softening her eyes as much as she could.

"Alex," She placed her paw on his shoulder, "I need to do this. I need to do this to keep you safe, as it is my sworn duty as your partner. I need to do this to help Takuya and Koji get to Tommy to save him from WaruMonzaemon. I need to do this, Al and I can't do it without you. Please?"

He gazed at her smile worriedly, looked at his D-3 and sighed. The blonde's eyes hardened and he thrust his Digivice into the sky, shouting:

"DIGIVOLVE!"

Kyubimon stood before Astamon, ready and willing to throw down. Alex stood steadfast behind her, clenching his fists determinedly.

"You guys go save Tommy. We'll handle this." The blonde insisted.

"You sure you can take this guy?" Koji asked.

The fox nodded, "I'm sure of it."

"Okay." Takuya muttered.

With that, the two older boys took off.

Astamon grinned, "Well, isn't that cute? A female stepping in to protect her man, how noble. You're gonna make me cry."

Alex blinked in confusion, "Wha?"

"I thought you were the fighting type. Why so talkative now?" Kyubimon questioned, tail standing up.

"I'm just making an observation, that's all. I mean, how many times do we see that in the movies? Woman fighting for men." The Prince scoffed, "That's the crappiest clique ever to get girls into the stories and make the feminists shut up. Not that it usually works, of course."

"How would you know anything of media history in our world? Have you been there or something?" Alex asked.

"No, but I knew someone who quit enjoyed screaming about the social injustice that exists in your world. It fired me up a lot before a fight." Astamon looked towards his gun sadly for a moment, then smirked at the partners, "But enough chit chat. It's blasting time!"

He raised his gun and pulled the trigger, "**HELLFIRE!**"

Alex ran for a tree while Kyubimon dodged the bullets that followed her wherever she ran, jumped or rolled.

Astamon laughed as he stood, using his gun to hold him up, "Is that really the best you can do, hun?!"

Alex looked at his D-3 in despair, "Hang on, Kyubimon. Just hang on."

"_A female stepping into protect her man, how noble."_

"_That's the crappiest clique ever."_

He shook his head stubbornly. But the words kept repeating and his thoughts kept racing.

* * *

Tommy cried as he was carried off after that explosion by some scary Digimon. It looked like an evil version of Monzaemon and it frightened him. He was scared the whole time as he was carried to a lavender castle filled with ShadowToyAgumon. He was scared when he got locked up in a room with WaruMonzaemon.

He finally let it out in a couple tearful screams of, "This world just keeps getting better and better! Oh what's next, I'm just gonna blow up?! Although, I don't know what's worst! Blowing up or having to tell everyone you were beaten by a teddy bear?!"

The boy kept crying until he noticed he wasn't the only human here.

"Huh?" He looked up.

Sitting on the ground with their back next to the wall was a child, not much younger than Tommy. At least, they looked that way. They wore a pair of black jeans, gray sneakers, a black/grey/white/green/white/grey/black shirt and a purple bandanna keeping their black bangs out of their blue eyes. He couldn't tell what gender the person was; too pretty to be a guy, but too something to be a girl.

The person blinked at him, "Are you done crying, kid?"

"Oh, umm, I guess so?" Tommy tried.

The person smiled, "I'm glad. I don't like seeing people cry. It usually means they're sad and I much prefer people happy."

"Yeah, me too." Tommy walked over to the person and offered them his hand, "I'm Tommy, a boy, what's your name? And I'm sorry, but, I can't tell if you're a girl or a boy."

The person smiled very brightly, "My name's Arawn and I'm not a boy or a girl; I'm a enby."

Tommy blinked, "A enby?"

"Yep." Arawn chuckled, "It's a word I found online based on the word 'Non-Binary'. It's the umbrella term for genders that aren't male or female, like my gender. I'm agender and my top is based on the agender flag. Or at least, it's the one I've always known."

"Wow, that's cool!" He grinned, "Tell me more!"

Arawn's smile got bright as they then said,

"Gladly."

* * *

Back with Astamon, Kyubimon and Alex, things had gone from bad to worst. Kyubimon managed to dodge the bullets plenty fine at first because they all came from behind her. But then, when she tried charging in at Astamon, the broke their single file and tried attack from different angles all at once. They kept doing this and Kyubimon was quickly becoming nothing but bruises and weak energy. She'd tried attacking the bullets, but they were too fast for her flames to even nick them.

She was barely able to lift her head now, panting like mad, blood and dust all over her fur.

While Astamon whistled as he impatiently kept checking out his wrist as if there was a watch there.

And Alex sat behind the tree, shaking as he prayed and tried to convince himself she was gonna be okay.

"This got boring a long time ago, you know that right, fox-face?" Astamon called, "What say we put you out of your misery?"

Alex gasped, looking up in shock from his spot.

"One bullet is all it'd take. Then you'd be free from having to play hero for some guy all the time." The Prince reloaded his gun, "I'll even aim extra carefully to make it as painless as possible."

"_No._" He thought, "_She can't die._"

Jade's image flashed through his mind.

_Her smiling at him, giggling, "You're so annoying, Al." while sticking out her tongue._

_Her falling, silent and lifeless._

Astamon advanced, "I can even write on your tombstone that you were a brave warrior to the end, if it'll make you feel better."

Alex had moved before he realized it.

The Prince of the Dark Area blinked at him.

"Al!" Kyubimon cried, "Move, he'll kill you!"

"Shut up!" Alex cried, standing in front of his partner with his arms and legs out wide, "I'm not gonna let you die! NOT NOW, NOT EVER!"

"Alex, you're only human, you can't survive his bullets while I can, please move!" The fox pleaded.

"And watch while you and everyone else I've ever known risk their lives over me but never giving anything back in return?!" The boy exclaimed, "Not anymore, Ren! If he's gonna shoot, he has to get through me!"

Astamon took another look at the boy who was standing in front of the fallen Digimon. His legs were shaking, his whole body was trembling in fact. The boy had tears in his eyes but a fierce look of determination and fear expressed his feelings loud and clear. He was terrified of dying right this second. But he was more scared for the fox. Judging by his stance, it wasn't just because she was his bodyguard or whatever.

"We're partners, right?! So that means we're suppose to stand on equal ground, and yet," A tear slide down his cheek, "you're the only fighter here. You get hurt looking after me, protecting me on my behalf, reassuring me emotionally so I don't fret. Just like Jade always does."

"Al…" Kyubimon murmured.

"I know I'm weak, cowardly and I'd be dead right now if it wasn't for Jade and you. You're the only two people who's ever stood by me since my parents disappeared for me and not for my adoptive father's favor." Another tear slide, "That's why…"

He took a step forwards, determination winning over the fear as he yelled,

"I REFUSE TO LET EVERYONE PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE FOR ME ANY LONGER WITHOUT EVER DOING ANYTHING USEFUL!"

Astamon gasped, memories flashing through his mind.

"_Please, kid, leave me. You'll die if you don't go."_

"_No, I won't go! You risked your life to protect me, Phascomon, it's my turn to do the same!"_

"_No, don't, YOU'LL DIE! ARAWN!"_

"_It's a risk I'm willing to take for you, Phascomon."_

Alex's D-3 started acting up, "Wha?"

Alex didn't get a chance to finish because both he and Kyubimon were enveloped in white light.

* * *

There were no floors, walls or ceilings. There was nothing in this big, empty, white void.

Nothing except the D-3, Alex and Renamon.

"**Alex,**" A voice called from within the D-3, "**do you wish to fight alongside Renamon?**"

"I do. With all my heart and soul." He stated, nodding, "I wanna be strong enough to fight alongside and protect her. To be able to protect Jade. To help Tommy. To kick butt with Zoe and blast 'em all away with JP. I wanna learn how to handle a sword from Koji and how to punch from Takuya. I wanna fight alongside my friends, even if it costs me my life!"

"Alex, don't say that!" Renamon called, "Sacrificing your life will do no good!"

"And your's will?!" Alex exclaimed, turning to her, "I get that you're a Digimon and you're stronger than me, but both our lives have equal value! I'm not gonna let you sacrifice your's because you're the Digimon and I'm the human. You're not dying on me, okay?! I forbid it!"

"But," Renamon looked downwards, "what am I supposed to do?"

Alex blinked.

"This Digital World is so new to me, I don't know where to start in it or where to go from here. All I wanna do though is protect you and the others. To keep you all safe and happy." The fox looked at him in fear, "What use will I be if you can take care of yourself?!"

Alex smiled sadly at his partner, "You're so much like Jade, it's scary."

Renamon hummed in confusion.

"She's always felt like she's the only one who can protect me and keep me safe. She's got no idea that she doesn't have to be big sibling alone, that she can lean on me. She hides her tears, keeps it all bottled up and uses it as energy to fight back at the world that keeps bringing us down. Sometimes, I think it's because she doesn't know what else there is to fight for." The blonde chuckled, "I don't think she even realizes how much it hurts to see her do that. To watch her wither away, struggling while I sit at the side lines, waiting because she thinks I'm the only thing she's got to live for. I'm tired of the people in my life keeping me away from it because they think I'll get hurt and that'll end them. It's not healthy for them and it's not healthy for me. That's why..."

Alex turned his head towards the D-3, "Whatever it takes, I'll prove to Jade and Renamon that they doesn't have to watch over me all the time, that they can chase their own dreams without watching my back and that I can learn… TO STAND ON MY OWN TWO FEET!"

The D-3 flashed bright yellow and Alex's whole body glowed along with it, a ring of data appearing around him.

"What the?!" Alex exclaimed in shock.

"**While you are in the Digital World, your body is only Data and all things that are Data in the Digital World have a Fractal Code. Your code is unique from normal humans, much like the DigiDestind's code is unique. This abnormality in your code gives you the chance to take on a Digimon body without burning out.**" A card and a device that looked like the latest model Dual Disk appeared in front of Alex's body, "**And inside this Digi-Mento is a Digimon that your code is compatible with. Place the Digi-Mento onto your Digi-Disk, call out his name and he will lend you his powers, Alex Yuki, so that you may fight alongside your friends. That is, if you still believe you can handle this.**"

Alex smirked and looked at Renamon. A message passed between them-

"I'll still need you once this is over, Ren. I need my friends' help to survive. But you don't have to focus your entire being on helping and protecting me. We can find other ways to fill your time and I'll help you find other goals to work for besides ones just for me. That is, if you still want me around."

"Of course, Alex. You're my partner. Together with your, no, our friends, I left my home behind for a whole new world, but I didn't feel afraid. Because you were all with me. I'll find my own goal, Al, I promise. But I'll always protect you too. I'll do my best not to smother you though and I'll try to get Jade to mellow out a bit, too."

"Thank you."

-then Alex nodded at his D-3, "Ready whenever you are."

He grabbed the Digi-Disk, strapped it to his arm and opened it up. The blonde looked to the Digi-Mento and yelled as he placed it where a monster card would normally go, "**AWAKEN: HACKMON**!"

The Digi-Mento glowed brightly…

* * *

When the light finally faded and Astamon could see again, he couldn't believe his eyes!

For one thing, Kyubimon was completely healed.

And for another thing, the human boy was gone and in his place was something very, very weird. It was a Digimon he'd never seen before. It was about the same height as Astamon, with white dragon-like armour all over it's body. For fingers and toes, it had dark blue claws. On it's back was a tattered red cape with a hood. It had a helmet that looked like a human face inside a dragon's mouth; the helmet had big, big ears, yellow eyes, a horn, a silver lower jaw and a white upper roof. The light skinned face inside the mouth was framed by dirty-blonde hair, with two caramel eyes.

"AlHackmon!" The new being cried.

Astamon gaped at the new player for a moment, then grinned, "Ahh, is this the great, manly hero come to save the day?"

"Nah," AlHackmon smirked, "just a unmanly loser in aluminum foil."

"In that case, loser, fox-face," The Prince adjusted his guns, "let's dance."

"**HELLFIRE!**" Astamon fired his bullets once more.

AlHackmon and Kyubimon jumped in two directions to avoid the bullets, half of the batch following each of them. Kyubimon danced through the air, going higher and higher. AlHackmon ran around in a circle, going faster and faster.

Astamon laughed at them, "Is this your idea of a joke? Getting dizzy?"

"No." AlHackmon replied, "It's-"

"Our strategy." Kyubimon finished.

"Wha?" Astamon blinked.

Kyubimon suddenly stopped rising and the ends of her tails became alight with blue fire, "**FOX FIRE INFERNO!**"

The flames with faces caught all of the bullets, that had completely stopped moving, reducing them all to ash.

"**BABY FLAME!**" AlHackmon spat fire out of his mouth and nose.

He kept this up until he was going so fast, he made a ring of fire and finally stopped, smirking as the bullets' ashes fluttered into thin air.

Astamon blinked at him, bug-eyed, then screamed, "WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT?!"

AlHackmon gave a boyish grin, "Time to take you out."

"**DRAGON WHEEL!**" Kyubimon called, spinning as she fell, becoming enveloped in flames.

"**FIFTH RUSH!**" AlHackmon's claws glinted the light as he quickly moved in for the kill.

The two hit Astamon at the same time while completely missing each other. They stopped their attack with their backs to Astamon, Renamon in front of him, AlHackmon behind him.

Astamon dropped to the floor, was wrapped in data and turned back into Porcupamon.

AlHackmon and Kyubimon were also wrapped in data, transforming respectively into Alex and Renamon. The first two were passed out.

"Alex!" Renamon called, jumping to her partner.

Alex groaned and rubbed at his head, sitting up as he did, "What happened to me?"

The blonde took a look at the ground and noticed the Digi-Mento was on the ground. It had a picture of Hackmon on it; it was basically AlHackmon's armour on a real dragon's body.

"So you're Hackmon, huh?" He asked. The blonde grinned as he picked up Hackmon's Digi-Mento, "Thank you, for lending me your strength."

The Digi-Mento flashed, reflecting the light. Alex took it as a wink.

He looked to his Digi-Disk to see where a Deck was normally stored, there was a compartment that he decided was where his Digi-Mento could go. So, he put it in and the Digi-Disk closed up until it was nothing but a screen.

Suddenly the screen lit up and the woman's voice spoke up as her symbol shined, "**There are many more Digi-Mentos in this World, Alex. It is now your duty to find them and take them from the hands of evil Digimon before they are used to completely destroy the Digi-World. Do you accept this mission?**"

"You know it, Boss Ma'am." Alex stated, "Just tell me what to call myself, how many there are and I'll find all the Digi-Mentos. I swear it."

"**Very well. I dub thee, Alex Yuki, the Digital Paladin. You must find all 40 Digi-Mentos before it is too late.**" The woman replied.

With that, the screen turned dark.

"Al, we need to check in with Takuya and Koji." Renamon called, "Make sure they're okay and that Tommy is as well."

The boy nodded and they started walking away.

"W-wait."

They stopped and turned back to Porcupamon, who was getting up, "I'm… I'm sorry for wh-what I did but, they… they have my f-friend and I-I… want them... b-back."

"You think you can help us find them, Porcupamon?" Renamon asked.

The Puppet Digimon nodded.

Alex grinned, "Looks like we got one more on the team now guys."

"Forward!" He turned around, "MARCH!"

With that, the troupers were marching off to save their friends and reunite with Takuya and Koji.

* * *

"WHAT?!" Alex exclaimed, "So, this Arawn kid falls from the sky while you were escaping the Dark Area and you two work together to keep each other safe. Then the residents of Toy Island take you both in. Then the ToyAgumon got corrupted by Cherubimon and turned into ShadowToyAgumon, who are now out to get revenge on the planet's children. And finally, they kidnapped Arawn and the ShadowToyAgumon corrupted you AND Monzaemon to force you both to kidnap us?!"

Porcupamon nodded, "Cherubimon bad… turn al-almost all Digimon… to evil. Pandamon… still f-fights… ShadowToyAgumon to p-protect… children. We t-try to rescue Arawn b-but… it d-doesn't go we-well. They s-still stuck."

"Wow, talk about being between a rock and a hard place." Alex remarked.

"And you're certain she and Tommy are in the highest most tower in the Lavender Castle?" Renamon checked as they neared the establishment.

Porcupamon nodded again, "But… Arawn is-isn't a… sh-s-she. Arawn is… th-they."

"Forgive me, I didn't realize." Renamon stated.

Alex smirked, cracking his knuckles, "That's all I needed to hear."

They walked across the drawbridge and arrived just in time to see Agunimon and Lobomon purifying most of the ShadowToyAgumon.

"Why am I always late to the party?" Alex moaned.

Agunimon and Lobomon de-digivolved and exclaimed in shock in their human forms, "Alex! Renamon!"

"Yo." Alex greeted.

"We haven't a second to waste." Renamon stepped up, Porcupamon beside her, "He will guide us through the castle."

Everyone nodded and took off running.

With Porcupamon as their guide, they were climbing the stairs to the top tower in no time, but it wasn't fast enough for some people's liking.

"Hurry!" Koji called, "We have to get Tommy before it's too late!"

"And save Arawn!" Alex added in.

"Who knows what awful things that bear is doing to them?!" Takuya yelled.

"Don't think about that," Renamon yelled, "just keep running!"

"Ne-nearly," Porcupamon wheezed, "there."

"Hang on, Tommy!" Alex and Takuya called, their voices echoing.

Sounds of fighting while an innocent bystander cried traveled through a door and down the the stairs, haunting the misfit heroes' ears.

"They're fighting!" Renamon recognized.

They bust through the door-

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Monzaemon laughed.

"I win!" Tommy cheered, video game controller in hand, "Champion of the world!"

"Way ta go, Tommy!" Arawn cheered, high-fiving the boy.

-only to arrive upon the last thing they expected.

"Tommy, what are you doing?" Koji asked in shock.

"What's it look like I'm doing?" Tommy smiled, turning to face them.

Arawn faced them as well, then their eyes lit up with tears, "PORCUPAMON!"

They ran to the Puppet Digimon and ran into his arms, hugging him for all they were worth.

Alex, Renamon and Hackmon watched the scene with a smile.

"But we thought you were in trouble." Takuya sighed, sounding like a mother who had a false alarm.

Tommy nodded.

"I know. I feel just awful about that guys, but this little trooper saw through to the real me and played with me anyway." Monzaemon apologized, petting Tommy's head, "He's a good boy."

Alex sweat-dropped, "I don't know if I should be freaked out by that or not."

"So can we keep him?" Tommy asked, sunshine smiles.

Takuya and Koji sighed.

* * *

"But why can't we keep him?" Tommy asked, for the 100th time it seemed, as they exited the castle.

Arawn sighed. If he asked them that, one more time-

"Ahh, fantastic friends."

Arawn blinked and looked forwards to see all the ToyAgumon were back to normal and a panda-looking Digimon with a red scarf was with them. That was Pandamon.

"To make up for their monstrous mistakes," Pandamon used one of his hands to gesture towards the group, "the ToyAgumon insist they take you off the island and to take Arawn home, if that is where they want to go."

While the boys and Renamon rejoices, the enby thought hard.

On one hand, the Digital World was where they always felt valid and heard their pronouns all the time. They had friends here who made them happy everyday and now that the Shadow was out of the ToyAgumon, things could go back to the way they were.

But on the other hand, the Real World for all it's flaws was their home. And they couldn't just abandon it and all the other enbies and birls out there, needing someone like them. Those kids needed someone to talk to.

"I think, I'll go home." Arawn decided.

"Then we'll see you off." Tommy promised.

Arawn smiled at the boy, then ran off to pack their things, knowing they needed to compose themself if they wanted to give Porcupamon a decent farewell.

* * *

Arawn's things were all in the plane, the ToyAgumon, Monzaemon, Pandamon and Porcupamon were gathered around. Tommy and his crew were standing in the crowd.

Now all that's left was the goodbyes.

"Porcupamon," Arawn turned around and faced their friend, "when I first came to the Digital World, I was from a horrible place. People treated me cruelly and no one respected my identity. I wished to disappear and so, I somehow ended up here.

"Here is where I met you, back when you were Phascomon and trying to escape the Dark Area. We protected each other and made it out alive and you digivolved to Porcupamon. And even though you weren't as cute anymore, I still loved you because you were my best friend, whatever your form was.

"We explored the Digital World together, meeting so many different Digimon until finally we reached Toy Island. We were taken in and loved instantly and I'd never felt like I belonged so much before in my life.

"But then Cherubimon came and took it all away. He poisoned my friends and nearly killed me because I was human, but you got the hits instead. I felt so guilty, I let them capture me, thinking I wouldn't hurt you anymore. But I did. I kept hurting you and I'm so, so sorry for that.

"And that's why, I have to go. I'm not half as strong as any Digimon and I know you'd wanna fight against Cherubimon to save the Digital Word. But I can't get in the way of that. I can't put you at risk because I'm weak anymore.

"I'm tired of running from my own problems anyway. Hiding in here won't get me accepted sooner or make my society a better place. I have to get there and work to change things with my own two hands, or things will never change for anyone.

"Here, the only difference I could make is who am I best used as a bargaining chip for. There, I can speak up, speak out, tell my story and get my voice heard. I can work to get trans people's rights so they work better for them. I can change things.

"And I want to thank you all for showing me how strong I really am inside if I just remember that there are decent people in the world who are willing to change! To help! By the time Cherubimon has been defeated, I'll have turned my world upside down!"

Everyone cheered Arawn on. They smiled and gave Porcupamon a final hug.

"You'll always be precious to me, Porcupamon. Please, don't forget that." Arawn smiled up at him, "Okay?"

Porcupamon was crying, "I w-wish you g-good… luck. I k-know you'll ch-change the world."

They cried too, "I will, just like you will, Porcupamon. Maybe we'll see each other again some day, right?"

Porcupamon nodded.

With that, Arawn was in the plane and being flown to the nearest Trailmon station, on a one-way trip back to the Human World, a resolve in their heart and a fire in their belly.

The Real World wouldn't know what hit it.

* * *

Our heroes were now on their own plane, heading for the Forest Terminal.

"You think Arawn will be okay?" Tommy asked.

Renamon smiled, "I'm sure they'll be just fine."

"Yeah, I mean, did you hear how passionate they were before they left?" Alex asked, "I know they're gonna do great things in our world while we're away!"

"Let's hope so." Koji stated, sounding smug and sarcastic at the same time but his tone of voice being too light to have any malice in it.

"Hey, Tommy, how come you weren't scared?" Takuya asked, "When you were captured by that evil teddy bear?"

"Well to be honest, first I was so scared of him that I almost wet my pants." Tommy smiled, "But then I noticed Arawn sitting in the corner alone, we talked and they made me feel a lot better! And that helped me realize that the big guy only wanted to play a few games with me."

Takuya laughed while Koji called, "Only a kid could figure that out!"

"You're right." Takuya smirked at Koji, "And you thought kids weren't good for anything."

With that, their crazy day ended with light chatter and interesting stories being retold.

* * *

Back with Zoe's group, they'd finally found dry land.

"Umm, I hate to say this guys," The girl spoke up as most of the group nervously looked around, "but I think, we're lost."

"Aww, who cares about being lost?" The cat snorted, "So long as we're outta the water, I can figure how to get to the Forest Terminal."

"I hope you can, Mikemon." Zoe murmured worriedly.

"_And who knows what horrible thing is gonna find them before Takuya and the others do? And where the hell is Jade? Find out what'll happen on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters!"_


End file.
